Spiritual Workout

How Many People Were There?

2011-08-26T12:55:00.001-07:00

The question refers to the first Spiritual Workout class I facilitated here in New York the other night, roughly five or six weeks after my arrival. And it's a question I have been hearing for years with regard to any class or workshop I have ever done. Ever. How many people were there? It's a question that comes from virtually anyone - very close friends, strangers, students and clients, and everyone in between. I never ask any of them why they are asking the question, but I think I understand. It's a frame of quick reference that helps to categorize or judge in one way or another. The answer - 50, 25, none, a hundred - quickly matches up to a number in one's head about what "success" is and then the questioner make his or her judgment. We all do this.

When I presented a series of classes during the course of a week at a particular venue for the first time, everyone kept asking me, How many people were there yesterday? I'd give my response and, in this case, the responses were always some shade of joyful surprise. Really? That's fantastic! Or, Wow, that's a lot for that time of day. Or, my favorite, I heard there were a lot of people there! It was all the same to me because I had nothing to compare it to, but they did. They had a number in their heads for what success meant and attendance at my classes was greater than that number so in their minds, clearly, I was a success! In other situations I can feel the disappointment. How many people were there? Five or six. Oh. And on to the next subject we go! Apparently they were hoping for more and more would have meant success. On only the rarest of occasions do people ask much else like, for example, What was it like for you?

So before I answer "the question" about my class the other day, let me tell you this: I loved it! And I thought it was a huge success. Several of my intentions were fulfilled, as usual, the most important being along the lines of I am energized and excited. Every class is different and sometimes we stay on two or three concepts but the other night we touched on almost all of them and that is always exciting to me because I want people to see how frequently they show up in our life experiences. That is the point of the Spiritual Workout after all. Participants are thoughtful and engaged is another intention for my classes and workshops and that was certainly the case with everyone there the other night. My classes add value to people's experiences is also an intention and I received a note later that evening from someone who said his awareness had been heightened and that the Workout was quite valuable to him. That I was in New York doing a Spiritual Workout at all was, itself, another intention fulfilled, for crying out loud. We got to help someone identify a set of non-serving beliefs and learned a way to transmute them into serving ones. We had a robust conversation about the law of attraction and many of its intricacies as well as a conversation about how we are all connected and the commonalities we share in terms of our growth processes. And we even got to the we belong to the planet, not the planet to us concept and that doesn't happen every day!

So at the end of the evening I was most grateful for and to the three people who attended my first Spiritual Workout in New York. Without them there would not have been a class - and I have had that experience more times than I care to admit! And it's not like I don't understand the question. I used to measure my own success the exact same way. But now I refrain from making those judgments, I choose to be present by accepting everything just as it is, I've changed my belief about what success looks like, and while three people at a class used to freak me out in a not-so-great way, today I am a new man. I remain focused on my intention for classes and workshops that are always full even as I express gratitude for evidence that that is exactly what is manifesting. As I write!

I Was So Mad

2011-07-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

And hurt. And disappointed. And flabbergasted. And dismayed. And incredulous. And it didn't stop there. I felt flummoxed, confounded, perplexed, confused, and bewildered. And none of these are my usual states. But in two very separate recent circumstances with two completely different people who don't know each other, I wound up feeling betrayed and screwed over. Big time. Things happened that 20 years of history with one and 12 with the other could not have reasonably predicted - at all. In both cases the ramifications were tremendously negative for me, paralyzing even, as they prevented me from accomplishing things that I had already begun and needed to do for my work, my purpose! Or so I adamantly thought.

For the record, I have no doubt that a jury of my peers would find that in both cases, these others were completely in the wrong! A hundred percent, if for no other reason than in both cases, promises were broken. Big promises. So trust has been violated and we all know when that happens, relationships are in jeopardy. More on that later.

So what did the big Spiritual Workout guy do? (Veterans know that since I demand it of you in classes and workshops and, of course, private sessions, I sometimes offer my own stuff too and this is one of those times.) First, in all of this, was take responsibility. That means, as we know, that nobody has done anything to us. Me. (Even though they clearly did. Actively!) And it means that I am not a victim. In fact, I am responsible for everything in my experience. Everything. Further, when we cease to make judgments about the actions of others - even when they are wrong and did you catch that judgment there, wrong, and can you sense the challenge in so knowing that each of these people was so wrong but stopping myself from making them wrong, taking responsibility, being present (accepting) because, trust me, that challenge was THICK!? - then we won't have to forgive them for anything later. They're just who they are doing their things and whatever those things are, in my world, however it is that I am experiencing them, is me all me.

Which led me to the idea that we are here for a reason. That includes being in any present moment in which we may find ourselves. So the only question is, why? Why am I here? What is the reason? What fantastic opportunities for soul-level growth are presenting themselves to me for crying out loud?!? A fantastic thing about coming to this place is, you will notice, it takes the focus completely off of others who, like it or not, are simply not responsible for our experiences and it encourages us to stay in the zone of being responsible for our own selves.

I'll be honest with you. The full range of what was in all of this for me is more than I can or am willing to go into here. Suffice it to say that it boils down to three basic headlines. The first was that I had an opportunity to let go completely of beliefs I had about how I could accomplish things in my life. I believed, fully, in both cases, that I absolutely could not do what I needed to do without them giving me what they promised to give me. (One was a favor volunteered; the other was a paid-for service.) I was wrong and I got to see that up close and personally.

The second was that I got to experience letting go of control, the ultimate challenge of the spiritual warrior, when I didn't even think that I was controlling anything. I'm truly not a control freak kind of person, unless of course something is my responsibility. (Then watch out!) But relying on things that made sense for me to have and promises made by people who said they'd provide them didn't seem like control to me in any way whatsoever. But there it was. And I know for sure, at least with regard to the paid-for service, that I was spot on with this insight when instead of being pissed that what I'd contracted and partially paid for wasn't here yet, instead of presenting this friend and service provider with chapter and verse of all the ways in which not having what she'd promised was costing me, instead of letting any more of that negative energy invade my thoughts and feelings and mind and body, I simply let it go. I wrote a brief email saying that while I certainly needed what I had contracted for and remained astonished that it was two-and-a-half-months late, and counting, that what was most important was that it was done with good energy and good attitudes and that she should take as much time as she needed to complete it. And then I felt immediate relief. Listen to inspiration. That feeling of relief was all I needed to know that despite whatever was going on in the hell box of my mind, I had, from the perspective of my soul, done precisely the right thing. And all it took was giving up my idea of when something had to happen.

The third headline is part of a gigantic dynamic that we are all facing, though many of us are not aware of it and we are facing it in a variety of different ways. It's that as our consciousness rises, as our vibrations rise, because everything is energy, some people and things that have been in our lives simply no longer match our new energy. It's not right or wrong or good or bad or anything like that. It's just different. And, as indicated earlier, with trust broken, I'm looking at letting go of some relationships that have been, in varying degrees, relationships I have maintained for quite some time. These examples and a few others from my recent life, actually, each gave me the opportunity to engage in dynamics that I used to engage in except now, given whatever work I've been doing on myself, I'm not engaging with those folks the way I used to. I just can't. It no longer matches who I am. With this paid-for example, I did engage the old way until I realized, wait. That's not me. Not anymore. I won't judge her. I'll take the hit for whatever havoc I perceive is being created in my life. I'll be responsible for it and I don't have to have that relationship anymore. It doesn't work and this experience laid that bare.

Ultimately, I could not get to where I'm going in my life, not grow as I've intended, with what has turned out to be old baggage. None of us can and none of us will and this is not news. We are all doing what I'm talking about here. We are all having crazy stuff flung our ways - old, crazy, non-serving, automatic-pilot stuff shoot right up into our faces specifically so we can use all the tools we have learned to do things differently; specifically so we can say goodbye to old, non-serving ways of being; specifically so we can raise our individual and, thus, collective consciousness.

"10 Ways to Be Spiritual. Regardless!" A New Workshop for New York!

2011-07-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2011 - 7:00-9:30pm

While the new Spiritual Workout web site waits to be born, I'm using this blog as a place to describe, in greater detail than can fit on a flier, a brand new workshop called "10 Ways to Be Spiritual. Regardless!" It's a celebration of two firsts: it's the first presentation of this brand new Spiritual Workout Workshop and the first Spiritual Workout event of any kind in New York City! For those who don't know, this is where I'm from and I am thrilled to be back in town - for several months - to spread the good Spiritual Workout word.

One of the things I constantly hear from clients and students and people on the street is that practicing the concepts that the Spiritual Workout espouses (see above) is really hard, if not impossible, when one is in the thick of a crisis. My response is that crises - or whatever one might call the "challenges" s/he is facing - are precisely when we need to practice them the most. These concepts, while not necessarily a panacea, aren't necessarily not a panacea either! They make life make sense and when do we need life to make sense more than when we are up against what life is throwing at us? Not to mention that often our greatest challenges are repeats of previous challenges and part of practicing the "10 Ways" is about breaking a cycle if, indeed, a cycle exists.

I would say this workshop is perfect for you if you happen to be going through something that is particularly challenging or heavy or what you would call a crisis. Absolutely. Yet it is also appropriate for anyone who is not necessarily in the thick of something now because, certainly, you have been before and you very likely will be again. If you are in the thick of something, things you will learn in the workshop will be able to be applied immediately to whatever is happening. And if you are not dealing with something that is particularly critical, you will have the space to let the information sink in so it's there and ready for you if and when you ever need it. Bottom-line, the ideas we'll be discussing work for us all the time, regardless of what is happening in your life. :)

In the workshop you will receive a piece of paper with each of the "10 Ways" on it - for note-taking during the workshop and for reference when you are home. We will go through them individually, spending several minutes on each one and I think you will agree that they are each deep and compelling enough to be workshops of their own! I will be at the ready with general examples from people's life experiences to use as fodder and will unceremoniously dump them the instant you or anyone offers up something specific you would like to have addressed that night. That, you will learn, is my obsession!

Having heard about all ten ways to "be spiritual," we'll take a very short break during which you will be asked to focus on one of the ways that was just presented, one that resonates with you in a particular way and/or that you would like to explore further and/or learn more about. You'll break up into groups with others who are focusing on the same one - however that organically happens - and I will go around to each group to answer questions and help you relate the concept to your particular experience.

Then we'll come back and hear a bit from the other groups about what they have learned and have Q&A with the remaining time. I've scheduled the workshop for 2-1/2 hours, but we will have another 30 minutes to linger afterward for anyone who cares to.

I look forward to having you join me for this exciting new workshop and the New York City debut of the Spiritual Workout! This is personal development work as you have likely not experienced before and I am eager to present it to you. For the record, it is also a perfect introduction to my regular Spiritual Workout class, which will be offered on the following two Wednesdays from 7-8:30p at the same location.

If you have any questions at all, please send an email to me at thespiritualworkout@gmail.com.This is also the only way to register for the class. Space is limited and slots will be filled on a first come, first served basis.

Here are the vital statistics:

"10 Ways to Be Spiritual. Regardless!"
A Spiritual Workout Workshop presented by Steven Morrison, M.A.
Author, teacher, and creator of the Spiritual Workout
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
7:00-9:30pm (with a half hour for lingering afterward)
$40 advance via PayPal; instructions via email: thespiritualworkout@gmail.com. Please put "10 Ways" in subject heading and the payment information will be returned to you. Your payment secures your place in the workshop.
$45 at the door if slots are still available.

Location
TRS
44 East 32nd Street
11th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212.685.2848 (for information about this location)

Separating What We Do from How We Generate Income

2011-07-18T07:55:00.001-07:00

[The recent lapse in posts is owed to my having been a bit sick. Happy to be back in the game!]

Up until now, most of us have come to connect what we do with how we generate income. I know that I was raised in middle class America to believe that I needed to get a job in order to get money and that the type of job I got would pretty much dictate the amount of money I would "earn." Pretty much for my whole life. Some people, sure, "come from money" and so their need for work is, perhaps, less than mine. Or different. But most of us have a general sense that what we do is most definitely connected to what we earn and that's pretty much that.

Thankfully, more and more of us are realizing that this simply isn't true. In fact, for anyone who knows that the law of attraction is always on, it's easy to see why. For in a world based on attraction where we can be, do, or have whatever we desire, jobs have nothing to do with any of it. They are just the vehicle through which dollars have found their ways to us, not because jobs are magic, but because we have believed that that is the way dollars will find their ways to us.

Today, when the urgings of our hearts are getting louder and louder and when we are faced with letting go of all our old, non-serving ways of being, we can go into a state of panic (in varying degrees) about not being able to follow our hearts because of fears we have that we cannot, will not earn any money or enough money by doing what we love. This is where it is helpful to separate what it is we do from how we attract dollars to ourselves.

We are talking about separate intentions for each. On the one hand, we will have an intention (or set of intentions) for our work that would go something like this:

I am in the perfect job for me. I am fully engaged with a host of people with whom I interact on a daily basis. I am part of a team and I know my contributions are of value. I feel connected and purposeful all the time.

And then we will have a separate intention (or set of intentions) for our financial lives that would go something like this:

I am financially free. When my bills come, I pay them. When I want something, I buy it. When I want to support a project or cause, I do it. When I want to go somewhere , I go. I always have more than what I need and I spend what I have wisely.

When we take this stance, we free up The Universe to respond with its unceasing yes in infinite ways - precisely what it wants to do - rather than ridiculously limiting it to providing dollars only through a job. And as we step up to this new way of thinking about things, we help to evolve human consciousness, no small project.

Now it very well may be that your income will come primarily or all the way from what you do. Fantastic. And it very well may be that it doesn't.

Easier and Easier

2011-06-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

I remember, during my partner's final weeks of physical life in 2005, having several conversations with people about how the experience, among other things, really helped to keep me present. I chose to be with him virtually 24/7 during that time, saying repeatedly that as far as I was concerned there was no other place to be nor any other thing to do. And no other place to be, of course, is the essence of being present.

It's not as though being present was a new idea to me, even then. It wasn't. But the practice I'd put in earlier made it not only easier to be with him during that time, it also gave me an awareness of consciously choosing to be present as I was doing it, further strengthening that muscle. Being with him during that time was the greatest gift I'd ever given to myself and it stemmed from a willingness to be present.

More than five years since that particular experience, I had what felt like a giant opportunity to really practice being present today. Again! And it's that dynamic I wanted to discuss here - the idea that we don't ever really get the diploma. We don't seem to practice being compassionate or being present or non-judgment such that we don't ever have to do it anymore. Rather, we just get better and better and better at being present, or whatever it is, simply because we practice it more and more such that we cruise through life joyfully regardless of what happens. And this is the definition of peace!

If you've been involved with the SW for any time, you have likely heard me rant about what seems like everyone's determination to believe that personal growth work such as we do here is really, really hard. I hear this from clients and students all the time and I know exactly what is meant when it's uttered yet it is still just a belief. We know that beliefs aren't right or wrong, good or bad, they simply either serve us or they don't. The belief I have about personal growth work and the Spiritual Workout in particular is that it gets easier and easier. That actually serves me in the context of my intention to continually expand my awareness and my desire that it not be arduous. I know arduous, I have just chosen a different experience. Beliefs matter.

These concepts are rich. I have been actively playing and working with them myself and with others for 15 years and it really does get easier and easier. And each and every time we encounter an opportunity to practice, all that happens is a little more expansion.

Love, Post Break-Up

2011-06-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

A loaded subject?

When really fantastic dynamic "this is it" relationships come to an end, what does it all mean? Often, we believe it means we will not find such love again. We believe that whatever brand of love we just experienced is really, really rare. We believe that we are now alone. We believe we messed up and are being punished. We believe we will never be happy again. We believe we blew our one and only chance. We believe love like that can only come through that one person. Stuff like this?

Of course, beliefs matter because they create the experiences we will have. As I see it, the beliefs we have about anything and everything are like signing contracts for particular experiences so if this is you these days, are these beliefs you have? Others like them? And, most importantly, are you willing to sign up for those experiences? If not, what are your options?

First, it is not by accident that you are "alone" right now. This is an experience you created so that you might expand your awareness or, more simply, grow. There is at least one specific muscle for you to grow or develop, now that you are in this situation, that will get you to a more peaceful place. Learning to be independent? Learning to re-define "alone?" Learning acceptance? Think about it. Listen to your inspiration and find out because then you will have a "project," a reason for why you, as a spiritual being having a human experience, are in this particular place. And focus on your project will help to cut through those kinds of thoughts.

Next, review the beliefs you have about the circumstance you are in as above. Which one(s) do you actually ascribe to? Now, do they serve you? If not, use any of the ways you have learned to transmute old, non-serving beliefs into ones that serves you. (Byron Katie's "The Work" and EFT ("tapping") are two highly effective ways to do this.)

Also, use this time to reinforce your intention for relationship. Use all the good from the one that has ended and fold it in to how you want to experience relationship again. Add even more to it. This process will, of course, bring to the surface any and all of those non-serving beliefs you may have which, of course, is fantastic because you have to be able to see it before you can transmute it.

Clearly, beliefs matter in this particular circumstance. But I think the biggest one is the notion - included above - that love only comes through certain people. That simply is untrue. As spiritual beings having human experiences, Love is really all there is that is "real." The rest, of course, is created from fear. When we limit the ways in which The Universe can "deliver" love to us, we limit the ways The Universe can "deliver" love to us! When we remember that Love is all there really is, that it is everywhere, that we can experience it in infinite ways with myriad individuals, when we hold that belief and make sure our own vibration is a match for what we are wanting to experience again, well then it can't not happen.

And if we learn even just this from the one who got away, what have we really lost?

Guilt - What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing!

2011-06-05T05:18:00.001-07:00

Say it again.

In conversation yesterday with someone who is wrestling with some evolutionary changes in his own life, there were plenty of things to talk about. Like how, for the very first time in 29 years of living his life, he was facing things about himself that were, to his thinking, not so pretty. He was seeing outside of himself and the ways in which he has hurt people, one in particular. He was fully aware that he was at a point where with all he was seeing about himself, his only real course of action was to change. He spoke eloquently about the process of making such fundamental changes, transforming himself into somebody new (or, more precisely, somebody closer to who he really is). And seeing that he now wanted something so badly that he couldn't have because of his own actions.

Experienced SW folks know that change is embedded in the concept, we belong to the planet, not the planet to us. That's because Nature is in a constant state of change and, bottom-line, so are we, even if we often want to and do resist it - at every turn. But somewhere the conversation slowed down and I felt very mired just listening to him. He'd not been trustworthy in his past and was, to my mind, doing everything any of us could ever ask of anyone. Take responsibility for what you've done. Check. Absolutely. Endeavor, for your own sake, to not ever do those things again. Check. Heal from and move through the experience, emerging as a transformed human who used to engage certain ways of being. Sort of but not really check.

The issue? Guilt. A very low vibration of an emotion to be sure because it is an emotion fueled by beliefs that are so far from truth they just feel awful. I am a loser. I don't deserve to have love. I have ruined my life. Watching these thoughts pass through our minds may be part of the process. Attaching to them and taking them on as truths will absolutely leave one mired in a depressing loop of self-judgment and punishment. Self-judgments separate us from ourselves.

We are here for a reason means that whatever crises we create for ourselves (which, when we take responsibility, is really all we are doing), we do for some reason. Asking ourselves, who do I have to be or what muscle do I have to grow or develop in this particular situation to navigate to peace points us directly to why it is we are in that situation. Focusing on that project, as I like to call it, changes the dynamic completely. You may have a different belief and, thus, a different experience, but we are not meant to suffer endlessly in our lives. We are meant to use our suffering as vehicles for growth and expanded awareness. That's it.

The other side of all this, then, is the other person or the other people. This gentleman needed to see that in the area of take responsibility, even the one(s) he hurt must take responsibility for having created that in their own lives. It's just the way it is. Fortunately, we are learning at a rapid pace that this no longer needs to be the dynamic, that growth and expanded awareness need not be derived by "learning through opposites." But we're not a hundred percent there yet and many of us are in the exact process of transformation that this guy is in. In fact, we all are - in one way or another. So maybe we can help each other with the unnecessary guilt thing.

Knowing Self

2011-05-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

With everything that is going on on our planet and in our individual lives, with earthquakes and tsunamis and tornadoes we are seeing and experiencing in and on planet Earth and the earthquakes, tsunamis and tornadoes that are going on inside our bodies and psyches, with the birth pains that are accompanying the increased consciousness we are reaching for and taking on and creating all at once, it is important to know that we affect it all and help it all by our willingness to simply be authentic. To be more and more and more of who we really, really are each and every day. Which is another way of saying, knowing thyself.

This admonition, of course, begs the question: How do I get to know myself? It came up in a class recently and so I thought it would be valuable right here, trusting that there will be far more ways than anything I may list presently. The first tool that comes to mind, of course, is meditation. Meditation falls under the listen to inspiration concept as we can use meditation to connect with God, spirit guides and all manner of non-physical guidance, not to mention our higher selves, that part of us that is not quite in our bodies. Listening to inspiration can include any and all (and more) of these aspects of getting to know self. Self.

Here's an exercise I picked up a while ago and is particularly good for anyone who likes to journal. Simply write as many sentences as you can that start with: "I am a person who..." and see where that takes you.

Another SW concept that truly helps in this arena is choices abound. Often we find ourselves saying, "I had/have no choice." This, of course, is simply not true, and getting used to seeing the big and small choices we make all day every day will always point us to information about ourselves. When we say we had no choice but to abandon our plans and take our friend's kid to the hospital when his mom and dad were away, we see that we value friendship and compassion over whatever else was happening. When we say we had no choice but to stay home because the wife would make us pay for it later, we are seeing that we value a degree of family peace, our wives' happiness, or whatever it may be. And then, as you can see, that may just be the beginning. This inquiry can take you far into who you really are; the opportunities are endless.

So job one is knowing self. And looking through the lens of choices abound will certainly help you with that.

Dependence

2011-05-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

With a few decades of lingo under our belts when it comes to "dependence" and "co-dependence," I notice in my corner of The Universe a great deal of un-ease and what I think are misunderstandings when it comes to this subject.

Back in the day when I was a psychotherapist, people would use the term "co-dependence" so readily and with such disdain. My rant, then, was typically a suggestion to simply drop the "co" from the equation. If you're dependent, I reasoned, then who cares about the other person? Dependence is dependence, and I still believe that, as it pertains to the notion of being dependent upon someone for our happiness or comfort or joy or whatever it may be. Yet there is also a bit of baby-with-the-bathwater to all of this conversation.

That's because of the concept of inter-dependence. Inter-dependence is encapsulated in the we belong to the planet, not the planet to us SW concept. That's because one of the ways Nature manages itself is to be inter-dependent. Green plants depend on the sun for photosynthesis; squirrels depend on acorns from the trees for sustenance; bats depend on the darkness to make their contributions and on and on and on it goes.

When we, in our friendships and romantic relationships and families and communities of all shapes and sizes choose to depend on one another for various things (e.g., I depend on you to pick the kids up at 3 every day as you depend on me to be at work and earn money), we mirror the nature of Nature and align ourselves with well being. Nothing in Nature that is utterly dependent or utterly independent ever survives and it is the same for us. When we healthfully depend on one another based on voluntary agreements we make, we are in the flow.

It simply feels good to know that we are contributing to the well being of another as they contribute to ours.

Osama

2011-05-03T14:52:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've yet to see or hear from anyone with regard to the news that the U.S. government/we/the U.S. government/we killed Osama bin Laden on Sunday: any sense of responsibility.

What is most disheartening about celebrations by American citizens of this killing or politically-charged and motivated comments from politicians - in and out of office - is that it all adds up to focusing attention everywhere but on ourselves. We were shocked and dismayed and flabbergasted and stunned on 9/11, yet there was never any real discussion anywhere about our simply taking responsibility for the circumstances of our collective, national life. We are admonished to do so as individuals and "take responsibility" is not only one of the Spiritual Workout concepts, but it's pretty much the basis for this work in general.

If an angry person shows up in my experience and I am practicing taking responsibility, that means he didn't do anything to me. No victims. Ever. It means I have anger in me, plain and simple, and it's up to me to do what I'm inspired to do about it. If I choose to focus my attention on him and ignore my own anger, he and others like him will continue to show up in my experience. I know this can be difficult for us to grasp - it certainly was for me many years ago when I realized I couldn't blame my parents or my circumstances for the miseries in my life - and because we get confused between blame and responsibility. "Nothing is my fault; everything (in my experience) is my responsibility" is a thought to live by. I eventually got it, took responsibility, and everything changed. This hardly makes me a hero, but it makes me far more in charge of my life and experience and poised to eliminate the anger I have in me so that one day it no longer appears in my experience.

And it's no different for us as a country.

Abuse

2011-04-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

It's time to tread into, judgment alert, sticky territory. I was recently privy to a conversation about abuse and one person said that nobody ever deserved to be treated in an abusive manner and that all abuse is hurtful and damaging. On the surface, it's easy to agree with these sentiments but below the surface, there's more, much more, from a Spiritual Workout perspective.

First, we must find the strength to eliminate the judgment. Remember, judgments separate us and so as soon as we call it hurtful or damaging or wrong or unjust, we are all wrapped up in those ideas and cut off from any real further understanding.

Next, we must exercise what will likely be viewed as some radical form of taking responsibility but, of course, there's no such thing. When we take responsibility for everything in our experience, we take responsibility for everything in our experience. There are no exceptions. It doesn't mean we are to blame, it doesn't mean we are wrong, it simply means that we are spiritual beings having human experiences and everything we experience is something we signed up for, harsh as that may seem. Karma, of course, comes in to play as we likely have no idea what transpired with our soul and the soul of our abuser(s) before. Simply adopting the notion that part of what is happening is that we are working off karmic debts, so to speak, can go a long way in helping us to move through such experiences.

Also tied to this is the notion that we are here for a reason so beyond karma, crises in our lives give birth to growth opportunities. Always. Learning to stand up for oneself, shedding non-serving beliefs about ourselves, others, and how the world works, and growing our compassion muscles, are but examples of what a crisis of abuse can give rise to. Thus, instead of hurtful and damaging, abuse experiences can just as easily be seen as purposeful and healing.

In fact, until we get to where we see everything we call crisis as purposeful and healing, we are doomed to stay mired in and repeat the very patterns we so desperately want to end.

Trudging Through the Muck

2011-04-22T11:00:00.000-07:00

Well that sounds fun, doesn't it? "Trudging through the muck" is but one of myriad descriptions I frequently hear for the process, if you will, of waking up, shedding old stuff, striving for more and more authenticity in ourselves. I think you know what I mean. In a class the other night, I think the word was discomfort. Of course, we all may mean slightly different things with the language we use, but what I'm calling attention to at the moment is our tendency to focus on the muck and how hard it all is. This has certainly been a theme lately because as I write these words and think the thoughts associated with them, they are not unfamiliar.

In the conversation the other night with the person who was talking about the discomfort he was experiencing as he engaged his own process of shedding old stuff, I peppered him with a lot of questions about why he was doing what he was doing in the first place. Why was he even bothering with all of the discomfort? What would be the result of the process he was engaging? As the expression on his face registered degrees of bewilderment or consternation, I explained the method to my madness.

First, the law of attraction is always on and while we all know what the muck is like and can find countless people with whom to commiserate about it and wallow in it, no amount of that will ever be very helpful. Second, and most importantly, I was encouraging a conversation about the choices he was making. And the reason I wanted to help him get in touch with the choices he was making to engage this process of self-discovery after he'd spent decades avoiding it was to help him see what it was he was valuing. Ultimately we got to a chunk of it. He was valuing truth over deception; he was valuing his relationship; he was valuing personal growth.

Well this was a far more interesting than the conversation about muck! And trust me, it was not necessarily easy for him - or anyone in this position - to have this conversation. It was a real stretch - like super thick taffy - to pull away from the muck and into thoughts and ideas that were lighter and less mucky. There is much inertia in the muck yet our willingness to reach beyond and out of it is a far more valuable use of our energy than is commiserating about the muck.

The choices we make - moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day - show us what it is we value. And when we remind ourselves of what it is we value, frenetic energy softens and the reasons for the muck become much more clear. Also, this information is self-motivating in that the more we think about why we are doing something, the more we can see good and strength and virtue in ourselves, the easier it is to engage our process. Yes, there is muck but we give it way too much power by focusing on it, exacerbating whatever issues we have going on. We tend to make the muck the story, but it isn't. The muck is actually just fuel for our growth.

"I Hate __________"

2011-04-14T11:51:00.000-07:00

Fill in the blank. Whatever it is, might it be possible for us to eliminate the word hate from our vocabularies?

Up until about 15 years ago, I was a champion user of this word. In fact, for effect, I would often overly exaggerate it, backing it up with great power and emotion, none of which I can easily convey in this format. Like most everyone else, my use of it was an expression, a colloquialism, and I never thought twice about it. Often, it was just funny. But then I started working with these Spiritual Workout concepts more and more and the idea that the law of attraction is always on made me see that I was only attracting more hate or, at least, negativity to myself in one way or another. I was learning that the vibration of that word was, actually, quite low and slow and, well, unpleasant. Everything is energy. I also began to see that my choice to express it so readily was, for all intents and purposes, quite unconscious.

So quietly, I began to break my habit of saying it all the time. Then I began to kinda sorta respond to others' expressions of it. "Hate is such a strong word," I would say, with varying responses. I wasn't on a crusade or anything, I would just drop that thought into the conversation. Eventually I had pretty much eliminated the word from my vocabulary - it's possible! - and then spent a few days with friends I've known since childhood in the general vicinity of where I grew up. This family of four, like almost everyone I know, used the word all the time - just like when I was growing up - and it began to sound normal again.

I went on after that to spend a couple of days with my brother, his wife, and their five year old daughter. On our way to dinner one night I heard the word fly out of my mouth like it used to in reference to something that had happened when Niece piped up: "Uncle Steven, we don't say that word in our family. We say we love it when that doesn't happen." Brilliant, I thought. Not only was I hyper conscious of how odd it felt to utter that word again, not only was I called on it in real time by a five-year-old, but I also had a fantastic tool I could use with others - and that's what I did. I began, when a friend would say something like "I hate when she does that" just saying for my own enjoyment and amusement, "I love it when she doesn't do that." People often caught on and a few times - much to my surprise - I have been credited with "getting" someone to stop using that word.

No judgment, people. It's not about that. It's about energy and vibration and frequency and the knowledge that the law of attraction is always on and that we always get more and more of what we think and talk about - and feel about - and so why sign up for more and more hate and all that goes with it?

What Do You Want?

2011-04-12T10:19:00.000-07:00

This is such a basic question and it freaks people out!!!

Of course, it comes from the notion that the law of attraction is always on. Given that, we know we are always getting more and more of what we think and feel about - whether we want it or not - so it is certainly in our best interest to simply make statements to the Universe about what we're wanting. I certainly didn't make any of this up, did I? But since I'm obsessed with helping us to integrate these concepts into our daily life experiences, I've got to ask the question. And I'll be asking it again and again and again. What do you want?

When we say things like "it's hard" - the response I hear from virtually everyone - we first have to hear "it's hard" as the belief it is. Beliefs matter because they create the experiences we will have so right off the bat, why set ourselves up for "it's hard?" And what the heck is our problem anyway? Imagine taking a six year old (for whom you have no parenting responsibility!) into a candy store, intending to spoil him like crazy and you are all excited about how excited he will be and you walk in and he stops in his tracks. You can hardly contain your enthusiasm, relishing how you will be the favorite aunt or uncle for years to come and he won't budge. He starts getting nervous and says "it's hard" to decide. And you tell him he doesn't even have to decide, he can have anything and everything he wants. And he stumbles and stammers and 15 minutes later, there's no candy in his hands and he's still standing in the same place and the store is jam-packed!

We are far too often that kid and we are learning now that all our ideas of lack and limitation that we learned as kids and in our culture are lies! Out and out lies! The world is our candy store and we really can have whatever we want because of this little thing called the law of attraction.

Another response I often receive to this question goes along these lines: What if I ask for something I'm not supposed to have? And again, I have to say, let's lose that notion that we aren't supposed to have the things we desire, be they material or otherwise. When we listen to inspiration and follow our urgings to be, do, or have whatever it is, we cannot go wrong. Ever.

You're going to get something. In fact, you're going to get what you think about and what you feel about. So what do you want?

The Spiritual Workout Way

2011-04-07T13:19:00.000-07:00

I had the privilege last night of doing the first of three-in-a-row Spiritual Workouts with a new audience in Los Angeles. (New audiences are one of my primary intentions for 2011!) Toward the end of the class and in a couple of lively conversations afterward - including a protracted one with my friend, George, who had attended the class himself - a subject came up that often comes up with people who are new to this work and it goes something like this: What is the next step? What can I do between now and the next class? What's the format?

(If you have not attended a Spiritual Workout before, the format is that after a brief three-minute or so "warm-up" that I lead, nothing happens until a hand goes up and someone offers up something s/he is dealing with and we are off and running. And hands always go up. So the content always varies while the concepts remain constant.)

My response to the person in class who asked the initial question about what's next was, essentially "whatever makes sense to you." We hadn't been working on his particular issue(s) in this particular class, so I didn't have any sense of what would help him, specifically. And I'm not a big fan of generic "assignments" because I am a big fan of what's happening in people's real, actual lives and how might one or more of these concepts help them. So I asked him, "What do you want?" That's because everything stems from that place and while it's a simple question, I know people often struggle with it. My point was that any "homework" would come from what it is he was wanting and that there was no value in my suggesting something - anything - that might or might not have been relevant for him.

But in conversations afterward, with others, where it became clear that this approach is somewhat unconventional - or perhaps even radical? - I noticed a lot of resistance in me. Resisting and resisting what George was attempting to get me to see: that people want steps, they want direction. And then, after years and years of doing this work and hearing from others what George was saying to me last night, I finally got it. To do any of these things - things that he was saying very successful author/teacher/speaker types like me apparently all do - I finally got it. My HUGE resistance to doing what he and others were suggesting is that it abdicates responsibility on the part of the person doing the asking. "Take responsibility" is one of the 15 Spiritual Workout concepts and it is also a pillar of this work. If I start leading you, you are following me and making me responsible for your journey and your process. Not at all interesting to me! Not at all! Telling me what you're wanting and where you're struggling and asking me to help guide or walk with you, well now my resistance is gone and I am right there with you.

So I will still sit silently when class begins and wait for you to get us going. I will still offer specific homework to anyone who asks, based on who you are and what you are wanting. And now I will be a little bit better at explaining - to anyone who wants to know - why I insist on doing it that way. Thanks, George.

Japan

2011-04-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation very recently with someone who was struggling with what's happening in Japan. She lives an admittedly very comfortable life in southern California and is experiencing a sense of angst about what to do because, of course, she feels deeply for the human and planetary suffering that is occurring and a certain amount of guilt for not suffering herself.
A Spiritual Workout bonanza! Even though we had just run into one another in town, my cohort is familiar enough with this work to have welcomed the conversation and so we talked about what it all might look like through the lens of our trusty concepts.

We looked through the lens of be present and we are here for a reason. In this case, the two concepts combine in that we are here for a reason means not only that we got born on purpose for a purpose, but that we are in any given present moment for a reason as well. Another way to look at it is that there are no accidents. So to be on the planet in a place of comfort when others are on the planet in places of crisis and fear and loathing is by design. When we suspend judgment and exercise compassion, we realize that we have no idea what the souls of the individuals who we see suffering are up to and we don't have to know. But because of how the law of attraction is always on, no amount of guilt-tinged pity or grief helps anyone. Ever! If those of us who are comfortable can stand in and celebrate our comfort and infuse it with an intention that all sentient beings enjoy this level of comfort, because of the law of attraction and the notion that we are all connected, we do far more to create more comfort for more people than any amount of sorrow and pity and guilt could or would ever create. We must learn to master this idea and rid ourselves of useless guilt. It's time.

Another aspect of we are here for a reason (a k a there are no accidents) is to look at all the souls whose plan was to be part of what is happening in Japan as we speak. Their willingness, perhaps, to leave their lives in this way serves more purposes than any of us can ever imagine, for each of them individually and for all them collectively, but just to give a hint, think about what their departure from life at this time has done: it has focused the attention of many of the rest of us on our planet, our oceans, our energy policies, and so much more. It has given us opportunities to exercise our compassion muscles. Smaller numbers could not have done so with such impact and, yes, this is true for all "disasters," as we have come to call them. Remembering, however, that there are no disasters and that everything has purpose - and is also the result of karma - changes everything. If our inspiration then moves us to think or behave in different ways then even we, far removed from the crisis point(s) for now, can find purpose in our witnessing of events because, yet again, it is not an accident that we are witnessing events.

What we focus on grows, plain and simple, thanks to the law of attraction. And we are all connected so any of us who are comfortable enough to hold the vibrations of peace and vibrant health and ease and such actually do more for those who are suffering than we do by, broken record, I know, offering up angst and guilt.

A Soul-Growing Week

2011-03-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

I really didn't want to go, but I knew I would and that I would embrace it when the time came. A week on Kaua'i with officiating at a good friend's wedding occupying the juicy center of my time there. All of that sounds great and who wouldn't be up for it? Well, me, but not because I wasn't thrilled to be a part of the wedding or because I wasn't excited by the prospect of my very first trip to Hawai'i. Rather, because the timing just didn't feel right. I am jamming on re-launching my business and craving the kinds of connections I can make and activity I can be a part of in a big city - pretty much any big city! But the Universe was depositing me in a glorious home on a gorgeous island in the Pacific surrounded by wonderful people. Oh well!

So, of course, there's be present. Just be where I am without offering any resistance. No problem. Then, for me, there was a lot of we are here for a reason. What, pray tell, was the reason I was in a place that seemed to be the antithesis of what I have been saying I need - and want? What muscle to I have to grow or develop to move into a place of peace? The answer to these questions, in my experience, is virtually always something that is simple and custom-made for us, even if it is thematically something that is or could be for millions of us. This time, for me, it was to spend some real time in, as Abraham calls it, the receiving mode. To relish being pampered and to be pampered within a place which itself is full of the energy and Spirit of Kwan Yin, Divine Mother energy; nurturing, giving energy.

This has not ever been my forté. And as I blogged about last week while I was there, my body laid bare my inner, subconscious resistances to receiving all the gifts the Universe has for me. I know the origin of this issue of mine and have worked it from many angles for many years. But here, actually, was an opportunity to do so on a deeper level so I went for it. I relished being there and I relished the chance to strengthen my receiving muscle, knowing that all the positive clear intending I could ever do for anything I want is basically useless if I am not able to receive it.

By the end of my week's stay I was telling the bride and our host for the week what a soul-growing experience I had had. I expressed tremendous gratitude for the opportunity to have gotten over myself and to have moved into a place of receiving. I thanked them for giving so much so that I could learn and experience what I needed to learn and experience. I reflected on the ways in which so many gave so much to me during the week - be it a smile, taking me to see a waterfall, preparing meals, or any number of wonderful things that transpired.

I kind of didn't want to go because of timing, but I knew that was all ego stuff and, like I said, it was easy to go with the flow. What I didnt' know was how much going with the flow was going to add to my experience. Be present. We are here for a reason. Indeed.

A Spiritual Workout (Mine) In Real Time

2011-03-24T14:21:00.000-07:00

Two hours ago: Enjoying time and space in Hawaii with bride, groom, and friends who have gathered and are gathering for a wedding (I'm officiating) on Saturday. Communion. Lightness and joy. Mixing and mingling. Anticipating a hike to waterfalls (my favorite) and more. Sitting at the table, crossed one leg over the other like I do a thousand times a day and TWEAK! Lower back. Ouch.

For the record, this has happened twice before and has left me almost paralyzed. For weeks. So many places to go in my mind, none of which are helpful in any way. Mind and body are connected. So right off the bat, while kind of beginning to lament about what has been a fairly speedy progression from "tweak" to "paralysis," I start a mantra in my mind: I am so happy and grateful for my strong and healthy back. (Shooting pains.) Over and over as I quietly make my way down to my room.

I so don't want to be having this experience yet I am having this experience so I switch right into a new thought - be present - to run in my mind as I continue to make my way to my quiet space. I love this pain in my back. Thank you, pain, for coming to me with a message. I welcome what is happening. Mind and body are connected and body is responding in real time. I can feel a great deal of energy swirling around in the "affected area." I am NOT going down!

Now in my room, pacing, moving, breathing, stretching. Stretching more. This is where, in the past, it all kind of locks in and I'm done for. My past is not my future. I choose an entirely different experience than I've had before. Continuing to monitor every thought, remembering that I am a spiritual being with lots of love and guidance and support all around, I ask for what I need. Thank you for a clear communication. Thank you for telling me the spiritual issue this is related to. Thank you for support for my physicality. (Physical pain is pretty high; constriction is prevalent.) I am happy for this energy to move right through me. I am happy and grateful for my strong, healthy back. I am happy and grateful for this experience and what it is teaching me.

Not wanting to make a federal case or call any extra attention to myself, begged off the hike with relative ease. Received offers of mind and body treatments - a direct response to my having asked. Wow!

A Spiritual Workout is in full force and now I bring in E.F.T. (Emotional Freedom Technique) a k a "tapping." Even though I really, really don't want this to be happening right now, I love and accept myself completely. And even though I am in physical pain right now, I choose to remember that my back is healthy and strong and even though this has happened before, I know that this particular episode is different. Mind you, these are just brief examples of the incessant tapping I was doing - on the pain itself, on what it all meant, on my resistance to it, and more and more and more and more. Still pacing, stretching, etc.

I got the message (which I will keep to myself for now). I know what it's about and am, of course, working spiritually on that project, too.

Skipped the hike, but chose not to complain about it on any level and wished everyone a fabulous time. (The law of attraction is always on and who wants to attract more of what I'd be complaining about?) Here at a wonderful house with time to do things I want to do. (Be present; we are here for a reason.) There is some pain and restriction in my lower back, about 10% of what I thought it could have been - and I am best friends with it.

This is not meant as anything other than a real-time illustration of a lot of the concepts we talk about. The whole accepting things as they are idea. The whole mind and body are connected idea. The notion that the law of attraction is always on so giving attention to the pain even when in it won't get us out of the pain. And, I think you will see, so much more. The Spiritual Workout is all about making life make sense and right now, this little experience is making perfect sense to me.

One of my intentions for writing this post is to urge us all to look and see beyond what might be happening in our lives here and now that is not to our liking - be it something in our personal lives like loss or poor health or something in our collective lives like wars or nuclear meltdowns - and know that we have the tools to change it all. All of it. And because we are all connected, each of us doing it in our own time, way, and space lifts us all.

Namast'e.

Forgiveness

2011-03-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Forgiveness looks a certain way when viewed through the prism of some of the Spiritual Workout concepts, not least of which is judgments. That is, in a world where we cease to judge others ever, for anything, then there is nothing to forgive. Unless I'm completely missing something and that is always entirely possible, for I know there are numerous titles in bookstores about forgiveness and I know I haven't read a single one of them. (It just hasn't been one of my myriad issues.)

Often when we are faced with having to forgive someone for having done something, our focus is on all of the hurt and betrayal and injustice, not to mention on rehashing the awful thing that transpired. There's knowing that forgiving is "for me" and that forgiving "does not mean condoning" and all of that but, still, the focus is mostly on something outside of ourselves, except maybe for how horrible we're feeling.

So a willingness to look at the situation from the perspective of how it is we are judging the circumstance can be a real game changer. Judgments sound like "it's not fair" and "she's evil" and "this betrayal is too big." As we, in effect, take back the judgments we have made and are making about the other person and what s/he did, the drama subsides. Big time. Of course, there's also some plain old acceptance thrown in for good measure, a k a being present, not to mention some taking responsibility and the notion that nobody has done anything to us.

These concepts should go a long way toward helping to dial down the struggle to forgive. I'd love to know what you think.

Daylight Savings Time

2011-03-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

I love when it stays light later in the evening, yet I miss having the sun light up my house as early as it "used to" after we change clocks in the Spring (or before the Spring!). And I love hearing other people's reactions to this semi-annual ritual, which highlights a couple of different Spiritual Workout concepts.

First, there's the idea of change which lives inside the we belong to the planet, not the planet to us concept in that one of the ways that Nature manages itself is by being in a constant state of change. We belong to the planet means, among other things, that it and us are made of the same stuff and so if it's the nature of Nature to constantly change then it's the nature of us to constantly change, even if we have been conditioned to resist it at every point. Changing the clocks twice a year is, to me, a safe and easy way to play with our willingness to accept change by offering it no resistance. Be present. It's always a little test for me to see if I can do just that or if, for whatever reason, I will choose to lament more darkness in the morning. (This year I'm happy to say, zero resistance. So far.)

And there is something else that comes up for me when we change the clocks and it's about how silly our attachment to time can be. As spiritual beings, there is no time. Time is a tool we have created to help us move about on planet Earth. Meet me at 9 on Tuesday or I'll be on vacation from December 15 - 31st or I was born at 3:26pm on Tuesday, September 8, 1935. It's very convenient and quite useful. Yet from the perspective of Spirit, there is no time and I am reminded of that when we, willy nilly, suddenly decide that, poof, 2:00 is now 3:00! I love how we can be so obsessed with time and then so willing to prove that our attachment to it is, well, I'm not going to say it.

But I will offer this reminder: in Spirit, there is no time.

Wisconsin

2011-03-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

I was talking with a friend last night about events in Wisconsin and I endeavored to make one simple point: turn away from anger and focus on what you would rather see. And for anyone who understands that the law of attraction is always on, this makes perfect sense and that, of course, was the impetus of my comment. But for those who question it, and at least for this person, focusing on what she'd prefer made no sense. In fact - and this is the real issue - she could not even come close to articulating what she would prefer to see, mired as she was in the anger and the protest. I asked repeatedly, What happens when there is collective bargaining? What is the benefit of having it? And what, then, are the benefits of having collectively bargained? And what is beyond that? It's like I was speaking an unknown foreign language (and I was!).

Because the law of attraction is always on and the Universe is always responding to everything we put out in terms, primarily, of our thoughts and words and feelings, no amount of engaging anger and outrage and protest can or will ever create peace. It's a physical, spiritual, and scientific reality. And my friend said she couldn't comprehend why I was trying to talk her out of aligning with the protesters. Of course, I wasn't trying to do that at all; I never do. I was, however, telling her, that this situation ALSO needed people who could rise above the anger and hold a vision for a life they would prefer to be living, one that ostensibly would arrive when all their demands would be met.

In the absence of her vision, I offered a brief sketch of one myself. I said that, for example, I envisioned living in a civil American society, ruled by our rather brilliant system of government where individuals had equal access to the ballot, corporate money in politics was obsolete, and smart people who felt called to represent and lead us did so. I said I would like to see our state and federal legislatures be places where ideas were vigorously debated and voted on without personal attacks and vitriol. And I also threw in something, as MSNBC carried on in the background, about maybe showing examples of what we WOULD like to see 24/7 on tv. Now I had two heads.

Well isnt' that in the range of what you'd like to see?, I asked. To which she responded that that would never happen (beliefs matter) and then listed about a dozen other reasons why that could or would never happen (beliefs still matter), ending with the ever-famous, Well even if I did, not everyone is going to go along with that.

I'm barely scratching the surface here, but I think you get the gist. First, if you are like my friend and this makes no sense, rock on and do that which inspires you. But if you are a person who understands the concepts we work with here, are you willing to hold space for the vision that you would like to see? Can you find places to share your ideas and commiserate with others? Can you suspend judgment about anything that anyone else says or does, and hold true to your vision? And, my obsession, can we create those visions together so that those of us who are able and willing can give them our energy in service of bringing them to fruition?

My friend is wrong about needing everyone. Actually, it's really only about the square root of one percent of our population. Anybody?

Note: I have decided to suspend my previous political blogs (Spiritually Responsible America and Spiritually Responsible Politics) and dump all Spiritual Workout-related blogs here, for now. If you are interested in reading some more about what our political landscape might look like through the lens of these concepts, you can search either of those titles here on Blogger.

Spiritual Workout for Business and Orgs and Such

2011-03-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

I get really excited when I work with any type of business or organization and I very much look forward to working with all manner of non-profits, too, as the Spiritual Workout journeys on. What makes it so compelling is the toggle that occurs between the individuals who make up the entity and the entity itself. For example, a recent client talked about his own particular issue with using anger as a default place from which to operate. He spoke chapter and verse about his long history of getting angry when things were not going his way and how he liked to use his anger to make things happen the way he'd like. The only problem is, he then runs into all kinds of other "stakeholders," people involved in the situation in one way or another, and he's apparently learned he can't control them. Well that's encouraging.

So there was all kinds of "regular" Spiritual Workout stuff to do with him, including helping him to see that his anger was, fundamentally, a refusal to accept something that simply was. I cracked up when he said, "I hate it when people say 'it is what it is.'" No doubt. We talked about his being able to, in the moment that the anger arises, look for what he's resisting, what he wishes wasn't happening, and take a beat to be present with it, to just accept it as it is. And taking responsibility for constantly creating experiences where he is angry. And stuff like that.

But things got really dynamic when we started talking about his place in his organization, all the other players, and what might be going on with the entity itself. In no time we were talking about intentions as he and his partner, after 20 years or so, may have different ideas about moving forward. We were also talking about employees and suppliers and clients and I can't tell you how many beliefs flowed out of his mouth: it's the way clients are; the economy ruined everything; and more. So I was over the moon toggling back and forth like that. Who is he and how does he fit into his own company, actually, and who are the other people who make up the company and how do they fit? What is the shared vision? Who is/is not aligned with it? For starters.

I know that there are an infinite number of books and consultants doing all kinds of powerful work with businesses and organizations. Fantastic. And it's also true that just as these 15 concepts really help us to stay centered in our individual lives, so, too, will they help our businesses and organizations.

Why I Oughtta...

2011-03-02T13:58:00.000-08:00

I ought to, but I'm not going to. I'm not going to give in to the temptation to go OFF on someone who I very sincerely believe deserves it. There would, no doubt, be a high degree of self-satisfaction owing to how very, very right I am about the whole situation. I mean, there are facts and figures and everything. But here's where being the Spiritual Workout guy ties my hands, so to speak. (And I always knew it would, which is part of the reason I chose this work in the first place. But I digress.)

I want to get in this person's face so bad, but the truth is I can't find an intention for doing so that I can live with. I just can't come up with an answer to what, truly, would be the intention of going OFF on someone who, if you ask me, certainly deserves it? Beyond self-satisfaction, I haven't come up with much and, as of the moment, like I said, I'm just choosing not to go for that, good as it would feel. In the moment, anyway.

Then there's the whole take responsibility thing. Being willing to take responsibility means that nobody has done anything to me. Plain and simple. All that's really happened is that I've created a situation for myself that is inspiring me to be different than I have in the past. We are here for a reason and I have hit on at least one reason I'm in this particular situation: the old compassion thing.

So I'm really reaching for building my compassion muscle even stronger (it does get easier, that's for sure) and the flip side of that is, of course, not judging what I think is pretty reprehensible behavior. The truth is, I would not want to be the person who I am wanting to go off on, not for a minute. I can't imagine what might be going through that psyche such that it could have even committed what I think are "crimes." Emphasis on the what I think part, because I know I am only seeing what I see based on who I am and she is only seeing what she sees based on who she is. So there's that, too.

And, clearly, there's no need for me to be in any type of relationship with said offender. I can simply choose a preference for hanging out with different types and I assert that preference now, no problem.

Now all I have to do is figure out how else I might get to experience self- satisfaction because it really does feel so good.

Project

2011-02-25T11:05:00.000-08:00

The issue for my client was an overwhelming sense of not feeling worthy. And it didn't feel good to her on any level, as you can imagine. But she hung in there when we chose to look at what was happening through the lens of we are here for a reason. Of course, the reason is always growth and development on a soul level, but often that's not enough for those of us who want a greater understanding of precisely how it is we are growing and to actually do it consciously.

We are here for a reason means that there's nothing in our experience that isn't doing something for us and when we discover what that is, we have a project. In this case, my client's sense of not feeling worthy was directly connected to the notion that she just didn't know herself very well and that lack of internal support simply for who she is, that sense of not feeling sure-footed in the world, was leaving her feeling vulnerable and alone and not worthy of all the goodies that seem to come naturally to so many others.

And so there was her project: getting to know herself. Knowing what our project is, is generally fairly easy. First, it just feels right. "Yep, that's it," is what we will often say because we just know. (Listen to inspiration.) Second, it is virtually always something that has hovered in the background for quite a while, often even decades. "True, I've been avoiding that one for a long time." When we avoid, the issue will simply re-emerge, even if it lies dormant for some time.

When we do land on the project, however, it takes us off the problem. In this case, my client was able to stop being caught up in the energy of "I'm overwhelmed by this sense of not being worthy" and, instead, could focus on her project, the reason she was feeling so overwhelmed in the first place: her need to get to know herself. As she focused more on getting to know herself, when she realized that the only reason she was in such a state of overwhelm was so she would be inspired to get to know herself far better, the problem just kind of went away. And stayed away.

How Do I Do What I Know I Need To Do?

2011-02-19T14:25:00.000-08:00

Hmmm. Well the first answer to how do I do what I know I need to do is, of course, you just do it! But if it were that easy, the question would never have come to me so the far more interesting question is, Why does that question come up in the first place? Inherent in it is a sense of "should" vs. "will," don't you think? Something is telling him that he "should" be doing something, but clearly he doesn't want to for any number of reasons. Yet those reasons don't erase, for him, the sense that he "should" be doing something. And 'round and 'round he goes through all manner of confusion, uncertainty, doubt, and worry. Different names for the same thing, all fogging up the joint, so what's a body to do?

I suggested he get in touch with his intentions. It's the surest, quickest way out of confusion each and every time. Where did the "should" come from in the first place? What would it accomplish if he did it? If it feels right, what is his resistance to following through? Resistance is about not being present, so there's another concept at work here. There is also choice. By not choosing to do the "should," he is choosing something else. What is that? Complacency? Revenge? No judgment about any of it, just important to know. And then there's listening to inspiration - which is what the "should" is in the first place.

But mostly it's about intentions.

Old Stuff

2011-02-16T08:43:00.001-08:00

Or, more to the point, really old stuff. I'm seeing it come up in my own life: very old issues I thought I'd worked through long ago are right in my face. And I'm seeing it come up in your lives as well - in the lives of those of you who have shared with me recently in classes and private sessions. And there are a couple of particularly identifying features to this phenomenon. First, like I said, it feels really old. And second, while it's presence in our lives after what is often decades is rather mystifying, it's also largely not as intense as it used to be. And sometimes the lack of intensity itself adds to the mystery. It's like hmmmm, that's interesting that this should be coming up now. And while it feels very familiar, it also feels a bit different.

So what's going on? Well, we can look to the whole context of the Spiritual Workout for an answer and that context is that we are spiritual beings having human experiences and we have chosen to live our lives from that perspective. Yes, that again. From this place, we are reminded that humanity is going through a gigantic leap in consciousness which means all kinds of things on all kinds of levels and on the individual human level - us in our daily lives - it means that as we reach for the higher consciousness that looks like more and more love and light and peace and joy and meaningful work and dynamic relationships, as we step more and more into our authentic selves or, in other words, who we really are on a soul level, we must leave behind our old stuff. There simply isn't room for it where we are going and we can't get there if we're bogged down with it. Somewhere along the line we asked for more light and in order to have it, we have to let go of our dark. And the only way for us to do that is to see what it is and release it, ONCE AND FOR ALL.

So this drives us directly to beliefs. That your old stuff is in your face is one thing. The very next thing is, what does it mean to you that you old stuff is in your face? For many, I'm hearing exasperation-laden thoughts like I'm never gonna get there or I must be really messed up if this is still coming up or what's the point of doing all this work, it's clearly not working. And I'm suggesting we don't fall into that trap. I'm suggesting that we remember we are spiritual beings having human experiences and that the experiences we've chosen were to be transitional humans, ones who help humanity move from old, third-dimensional, fear-laden thinking into entirely new humans. And in the nitty gritty, we've got to clear out our old stuff.

So if we believe we're screwed, we're screwed and if we believe we are clearing out old stuff for good, we can joyously say goodbye to it as we continue to reach for what we really want. If we are willing to be present with the old stuff and not judge it, it will not need to hang around for very long. If we can remember to clarify and stay focused on what we want - our intentions - we will manifest them that much more quickly. If we remember that we are all connected, we can fortify our efforts with the knowledge that as we choose to approach our old issues from this perspective, we help one another and everyone else who will follow as we bush-whack our way to higher consciousness. If we remember that we belong to the planet, are connected to it and made of the same stuff and that it, too, is lifting its consciousness, we can see its turbulent changes - earthquakes, volcanoes, changing weather patterns - as reflections of our changes and vice-versa. We are not alone! If we choose to believe that we are saying goodbye to old stuff so that we can create an entirely new way of engaging life on Earth, we can also choose to be most grateful for any and all of that old stuff that comes up.

I say, bring it! And then fling it. Graciously and gratefully, of course.

Listen to Inspiration - Then What?

2011-02-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

The concept is listen to inspiration. It's about the being part of us and the notion that it (we) always know the truth - what is right for us in any given circumstance in any given moment. And when I say "right for us," I'm talking about from the perspective of our higher selves, our souls. Inspiration, when we learn to recognize it, is simple, clear, and gentle. I often hear myself say that when we've arrived at the inspiration, when we can know what is true for us, we're done. Stop! Don't analyze! There is nothing else to know! But that almost never happens, as was the case last evening with a particular Spiritual Workout participant.

For even though she had hit on what she said "felt like the higher thought," that was, in fact, not quite enough for her - at least not yet - and I completely understand. Knowing what is right on a soul level is not the same as choosing to act on that knowing. Knowing that the brownie sundae is not the way to lose weight, doesn't mean we won't choose it. Over and over again. So if we're hesitating on choosing the path of our inspiration, what is actually happening?

What's actually happening is our ego has kicked in to overdrive, precisely because we touched on our inspiration. It throws out all kinds of thoughts or, more specifically, fears and doubts and worries and anxieties about what we will have to give up in order to listen to the inspiration and what all of that may mean. In this particular case, it was letting go of a project that, for many months, had felt and been very right. The hesitation came from letting go of all of the benefits that the project would have delivered. And it's the thought that we will lose the benefits that keeps us mired in the space where we weigh our clear, simple, "higher thought" - inspiration - against all manner of thoughts that come from fear.

What helps this dynamic each and every time is intention. Intentions matter because they help guide the choices and decisions we make on a moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour, day-to-day basis. Thus, instead of being concerned about giving up the benefits of the project that is no longer feeling right, the opportunity is to re-commit to the benefits (e.g., connecting with really great people for a really great cause) by creating an intention that says something like I connect with really great people and great causes all the time. When we follow this path, when we make clear to the Universe that our desire is for the connection to great people and great causes, we are reminded that the Universe has infinite ways of making our intentions manifest. So when what looked like a way that our intention for connecting with great people and causes goes away - in this case because inspiration is saying it's time to move on - holding fast to the intention and being open to how it might manifest is still happening. That it's not happening the way we thought it would is pretty much what always happens! That there is disappointment that this particular path to great people and causes will not work out is a function of having attached to this one specific way. A belief that this is the only path to fulfilling the intention is another pitfall.

We are usually so excited when we see a way that something we are wanting can actually happen. But I think the Universe gets a bit of a chuckle when it tries to tell us that there are infinite ways for us to receive what we are wanting, that we will always be directed to the ways that serve our highest good, and we are sulking over why that one way we saw just won't work.

Acting

2011-02-02T10:02:00.001-08:00

I'm in LA now, so it was only a matter of minutes before the opportunity arose to do a little Spiritual Workout with an actor and, of course, I jumped on it.

The issue arose a day or two after his "really good audition" and our conversation revolved around disappointment that, in spite of such an audition, a call-back or follow-up of any kind had not materialized. We need not be actors to understand this particular dynamic.

First, because the law of attraction is always on, there is the intention. In this case, something like I am a working actor. When the intention is clear and shiny, the Universe will begin presenting options and ways to fulfill the intention. Immediately. In this case, it was an audition. The trap here is to then latch on to the audition, this one particular possible way of living the intention to be a working actor. If I get this job, then I can really say I'm a working actor. Or something like that. This can then be exacerbated in any number of ways, like commiserating with other actors about the injustices of it all and how hard it is to be an actor to doubts (beliefs) about whether or not it's even possible to become a working actor, and on and on.

The solution, of course, because of that pesky law of attraction concept, is to keep the intention shiny and clear. I am a working actor. When we choose to engage the law of attraction in a conscious manner like this, we are reminded to let go of how our intention will manifest and, sorry to say, even when. Our job is to simply be clear about what it is we are wanting, what we're preferring, what we intend to be or do or have. I am a working actor. When this intention is clear, audition opportunities will continue to appear; meeting "the right people" will happen and so forth. I can be a working actor and not get called back on every audition. I can be a working actor and have many experiences of "rejection" (I don't like that word for this dynamic, but it's the one most actors I've talked to use).

Most people - actors and others - tell me that this is really, really hard. They say that they believe in the concept, the idea here, for example, that the law of attraction is always on, but that it's so hard to remember to put it into practice. And then I say that's why the Spiritual Workout exists. For practice.

Assistance with Judgment

2011-01-29T07:42:00.000-08:00

Who among us doesn't throw out judgments? Somebody walking down the street about whom we have an opinion of some sort; a conclusion we've reached about someone who is driving near us; the annoying cashier in the supermarket; and so on and so forth.

Awareness of our judging gets us closer to minimizing and, ultimately, eliminating it. But when it's really, really hard, when we just can't seem to stop ourselves, here's an idea: just throw out "I love you" along with the judgment. Just run it silently in your head even as you condemn the homeless man or ridicule the plastic surgery-ized woman. I love you, I love you, I love you. Because everything is energy, the vibration of this thought, of these words, can't help but neutralize the lower vibrations of your judgments. You don't have to mean it, you don't have to believe it, nor must you even feel it. Just throw the thought out there with the other one(s) and see what happens.

I was recently in a workshop situation and was not liking something about the way the presenter was doing his thing and was thinking that I really wanted to get up and leave but also realized that that moment had passed. I wondered what the heck I'd do with the next 70 minutes or so and then it dawned on me: throw out some I love yous. So that's what I did for the rest of the time. I realized I was in complete and total judgment, I accepted that I was sitting where I was for a reason, I decided to try to get something out of it, and I just slathered the area with I love you. I just repeated it over and over in my mind - instead of repeating all that was wrong with this guy - and what do you know? I softened. I saw Light in him. I learned something from what he was presenting. And I learned something about myself.

Judgments are the result of our inability - or unwillingness - to be compassionate, to see ourselves in another. But when we throw the I love yous around just as willy nilly as we throw our judgments around, we begin to make a closer and closer connection to the notion that there really is nobody else out there, that whatever we find in others to judge are simply reflections of ourselves, and it just gets easier and easier. With practice and more practice. Yes, that again.

The Intention of the Intention

2011-01-11T11:37:00.001-08:00

Maybe this has happened to you: there is an intention upon which you are focused and, well, let's just say it isn't manifesting in quite the way you had hoped. So, often unconsciously, your focus actually moves in the direction of the lack, in the direction of it's not here yet, in the direction of doubt and anxiety, all of which only guarantees that whatever you're wanting will take that much longer (because the law of attraction is always on and right now you're attracting more lack). So what's a spiritually responsible sort to do?

Here's an idea: think about the intention of the intention. For example, perhaps the intention is for, keeping it oh so original, more dollars. Lots more dollars. Fine perfect. But the dollars aren't showing up, the bills definitely are, the anxiety is ramping up, and now all kinds of questions about whether or not the law of attraction works and whether or not you're setting your intention properly and whether or not your beliefs are in alignment are now conspiring to keep you on the hamster wheel, sans more dollars. But choices still abound so how about choosing instead to focus on the intention of your intention? Why, for example, do you want more dollars? What will life be like when you have them? Will you have a higher degree of peace? Will you have more freedom? If so, then focus on the peace and the freedom - add those to your intentions. Dollars may be a way to get there, but perhaps not the only way. And either way, it should help you to eliminate any stress about the dollars not being there. Yet.

Cranky Then vs Cranky Now

2011-01-03T07:49:00.000-08:00

Let's just say that cranky was once pretty much a state of mind for me. It was an enveloping default position in which I landed regularly and consistently. As one thing after another would "go wrong," all of my beliefs about how unfair and difficult life was would be reinforced and so the cranky state of mind felt normal and natural. Lightness and joy were for others.

It has been decades, thankfully, since I have lived in that place. Years of reevaluating my beliefs (life is difficult) and engaging positive intentions (to live joyfully) and taking responsibility (for everything in my experience) and a whole lot more have gone a long way toward turning that all around such that I truly experience my life today as light and joyful.

Well largely I do. But over the past few days, I twice heard myself slink into that cranky space. I'm so sick of all this snow and cold. My family is at it again. My house isn't really built for winter. And, honestly, I can't even go on because it's all so ridiculous. And that's the very large difference between cranky then and cranky now. Now, I just don't have my heart in it. Now, as I hear myself say things to friends - who I'm sure wonder how I could possibly be a "spirituality teacher - I kind of cringe as it's happening. There's nothing in me that even believes what I'm saying anymore. And I certainly don't slide into a state of prolonged crankiness. In fact, in two cases that I'm thinking of, it was a matter of minutes - or less - before my apparent slides were energetically aborted.

We all know that things only ever mean what we make them mean. So what does it mean to me that old shards of crankiness can appear in my reality even after so much work? Even after I work very hard to help other people navigate through the same kind of experiences? Well what it means to me is that it's evidence that our old ways of being are literally leaving us and we are leaving them. Beliefs and circumstances we have created out of fear and doubt and worry and anxiety are simply going away as we reach toward higher consciousness. We are taught that we, living now as humans, are transitional beings. We've mastered the experience of feeling separate from Source and are now reaching for and merging with more and more of who we really are, our higher selves, our authentic selves, and as we do, we say goodbye to all that isn't that new stuff. Mostly, I've said goodbye to crankiness about every little thing in life not going my way. Mostly.

Yeah But...

2010-12-13T14:30:00.000-08:00

When I first began to learn about these concepts, I was thrilled to have found something that, for me in my own private Idaho anyway, made life make sense. And trust me when I tell you that prior to that, it really didn't. At all. It was as though I'd discovered the rule book of a game I'd been playing for 35 years or so, a game I seemed to be winning - barely - without a clue as to how I was doing it.

Then came these concepts and month after month and then year after year, life made more and more sense - and I can see now that that's because I just didn't argue with them. The concepts made sense to me pretty much as I encountered and learned them, even if I wasn't at all practiced in the art of living them. So instead of wondering whether or not I was really responsible for how much I disliked my work or my family or whether or not the law of attraction was real and true or incessantly asking why questions, I just took the concepts at face value and applied them to whatever was happening.

Having done so back then and having made doing so the entire focus of my life and my work, at least for the time being, does not make me any different from you. And I have said on numerous occasions that I am not here to sell anybody on these concepts. If the idea of being present makes no sense to you and being compassionate is of no interest and you just don't believe that your beliefs matter, rock on with your bad self and I'll rock right along with you.

Yet if you are someone - and if you're here you likely are - who generally nods his head in the affirmative when looking over the list of concepts that we work with in the Spiritual Workout, I'd advise you to stop questioning the efficacy of the concepts and, for a time - an hour, a day, a week, whatever - simply assume that they are true and go from there. Assume that nobody did anything to you and, without blame, simply take responsibility for whatever is in your experience instead of saying, "yeah, but he really screwed me over." Assume that you are in the right place when you very much want to be somewhere else instead of saying, "yeah, but I was supposed to be in France." Assume that the belief you have that things will never change is simply a belief that can be changed instead of saying, "yeah, but that's just the way I was raised."

As I have said and keep saying, I'm not here to sell you on these concepts. But if you are drawn to them to any degree, I am certainly here to sell you on the idea of putting them to use in your life - for every single circumstance in which you find yourself - which is why I'm suggesting you eliminate the "yeah, buts" from your vocabulary. For if the concepts are truths, there is no time when they do not apply.

Spiritual Workout Special HOLIDAY Teleclass - Dec 9

2010-12-07T09:25:00.000-08:00

Please join me for a Spiritual Workout special edition Teleclass this Thursday, December 9, 2010 from 7:00-8:30pm PST. "The Spiritual Workout on the Phone."

If you would like to participate, just dial in to this number: 1-270-696-1555 at 7pm (PST) on Thursday and use this access code: 8874509.

Bring your biggest, baddest holiday issues and we will work them out so you can enjoy the season!

There is a suggested donation for the class of $15. If you wish to exchange - either before or after the class - click here and then click on "$15 Suggested Donation:"

Between now and then, if there is a particular issue you would like to see addressed or if you have any questions at all, please use the Comment section below.

See you on the phone!

When the Change Hasn't Come Yet

2010-12-05T08:36:00.000-08:00

When we choose to change something in our lives - a way of being, a way of acting, a way of feeling, a way of thinking - and the change we are seeking has not yet shown itself to us, it is time for us spiritual warriors to consider a number of things. In no particular order, here are some of those things:

Our beliefs. What are we believing about the process we are engaged in? Are we questioning whether or not the law of attraction works, or works for us? Are we holding fast to a belief that change must occur within a certain period of time? Are we believing that change won't occur? Are we aware of the vibration we are emitting that is counter to that which we are intending? If anything like this is the case, what belief might you be able to ascribe to that is true but does not interfere with where you are going? One example of this might be, I am in a process of change. Another is, I am in transition and transitions have elements of the old and the new. You can feel that this type of thought cannot and will not impede where you are going.
Our faith. "Faith" is not a concept with which we work, per sé. That's because faith is a choice and choices abound is most definitely a concept with which we work. When we are struggling, when we are mired in what we don't want and not seeing a path toward what we do, we must look closely at what we are choosing to believe. Nobody can force us into believing that changing old ways is doable if we do not believe that it is. It seems that the answer to a lack of faith is, ironically, more faith. But looking at it through the lens of how choices abound will make this easier.
Responsibility. Oh how fun it is to look around for people and circumstances to blame when things are not going our way. Taking responsibility - in the thick of feeling beaten down feels like the last thing we could possibly muster. Yet taking responsibility in that very moment for the fact that things are still not yet where we want them to be is to be present, accepting everything as it is, not judging it, and going from there. It's nobody else's fault, not even your own. Just your responsibility. And there's something still left to see or learn from the perspective of your being, your higher self, your soul. That's all. The best news about being willing to be responsible is, of course, that it puts you in charge.
Saying goodbye. This whole idea of shedding old, non-serving, un-fun ways of living in favor of a higher consciousness is what we are all up to these days and, dare I say it, why we came to the planet. We just can't take our old stuff with us. So know that as you choose to heal or release unsatisfying relationships, as you strive to overcome fear and anxiety, as you exercise faith by pursuing a passion, and as you create higher purpose, as you power through physical challenges and financial limitation, and as you add higher purpose and deeper meaning to your life in general, you are saying goodbye for good to the doubts, fears, anxieties, worries, and beliefs that have held you down. It really is that simple.

And remember, too, that everything is temporary.

What Else Could It Be?

2010-12-01T09:33:00.000-08:00

Remembering that the entire basis of Spiritually Responsible Living is the notion that we are, essentially, spiritual beings having human experiences, it's always helpful when we are caught up in any type of anything that's leaving us anxious, upset, pissed off, freaked out or whatever - to ask ourselves, What else could this be?

In fact, to take this a bit further, we could pretty much assume that anything we are having difficulty with is not what we think it is - as in it's not a problem with my boss and it's not a problem with my spouse and it's not that I'm in financial distress and it's not my job that sucks. These are just circumstances that you have created to foster your growth on a soul or spiritual level.

We are here for a reason.

Relationships - with bosses, spouses, friends, relatives, co-workers, etc. - are rife with opportunities to see beyond what is particularly when we take note of what is familiar to us in our various relationships. Or, said another way, the ways in which we find ourselves feeling the same way regardless of who we are with. For example, if we continually feel left out, it's not our boyfriend or girlfriend or co-worker who is at fault in any way - we are the common denominator always feeling left out. So there is something that the soul is crying out to learn and this is true for as long as the feeling left out dynamic goes on. Perhaps there is something about learning to speak up for yourself that is at least one reason for repeatedly creating this dynamic. If so, it's likely that "learning to speak up" has been something you have been avoiding or not been particularly good at thus far in your life. When the speaking up muscle gets developed, the feeling left out dynamic disappears. Nobody did anything wrong to you; you simply created them to work on something that is a direct benefit to your soul.

Maybe your financial distress is something you created to change long-held non-serving beliefs about money. Maybe having a job that sucks is actually putting you in closer touch with what you really want to do, affording you an opportunity to truly engage the law of attraction in a conscious manner.

Whatever is "wrong," is very likely not the issue. Not, at least, for your soul.

The Business of Intentions

2010-11-11T14:11:00.000-08:00

"My intention is that my son marries someone who makes him happy." "My intention is for my girlfriend to move to where I live." "My intention is that my boss stops treating me like a slave." What's wrong with these statements? Just that we don't get to have intentions for other people.

When I work with clients who speak in terms of hopes and wishes and dreams and aspirations, I always encourage them to "convert" those into intentions - and we go from there. That's because if we are hoping and wishing in a universe where the law of attraction is always on, we will actually experience more and more hoping and wishing because The Universe always says yes and so it says yes to our hoping and wishing. When we intend and put our intentions in present tense language e.g., I have more money than I need, we are off and running and The Universe starts saying yes to that.

But people always throw out intentions they are having for other people and that just doesn't work. When it comes to others, that's where hoping and wishing and dreaming does come in. We don't get to create in other people's realities, so hoping and wishing and dreaming on their behalf and, more formally, praying for them is about all we can do.

This ties back to how we each need to take responsibility for our own experiences and cannot be responsible for others' experiences. It also connects us to being present by not attaching to an outcome of something over which we have no control e.g., whether or not your boss decides to treat you with dignity and respect. In this case, you may have intentions for yourself and how you might handle people who treat you poorly. With that thought, you are back in charge.

Holding Fast

2010-11-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Greetings once again. Nice to see you. :)

So there you are, having worked on an intention for a particular something for quite a while. Then you wake up one day and, boom, there's an opportunity that fits right into the intention. Details may need to be worked out, but it sure looks good. And boom, there's another opportunity that fits right into the intention. Again, details need to be worked out, but this one sure looks good, too. Maybe even better than the first one. Woo hoo!

Now, as things percolate and before dust settles, what to do? I see two basic choices. The first would be to focus in on one or both of these opportunities. In this scenario, we might be talking to some friends about what is happening and, more than likely, they will get excited with us and now there is even more energy focused on one or two possibilities for fulfilling this particular intention. Fair enough. We talk about what could possibly happen with either of them. We talk about - or maybe just even think about - what could go right, what could go wrong. We play out each scenario in our minds and maybe then begin to form a preference for one of them, or maybe not. A development occurs - a phone call or an email or something - and we hold our breath for a moment. The communication doesn't present anything, ultimately, other than more waiting. And we start to breathe again, but doubt has crept in. What, exactly, was the tone of that communication, we wonder? What did she mean by that? What if this all falls apart? Well I've got the other option. Then the other option looks as though it will disappear. Then we realize, with this thought, how much we really wanted that option and disappointment is the feeling of the day. Then it's on again! So you can sense what kind of energy you're putting out right here - worry, doubt, uncertainty, mixed in with the enthusiasm and excitement. Worst case scenario, the worry, doubt, and uncertainty mute the enthusiasm and excitement altogether. The only problem with this choice is that it renders us not quite a vibrational match for the original intention.

The second choice, my personal favorite, would be to focus in on - or re-focus on - the intention itself. Yep, the very one you started a way long time ago, the one that is the context for these two opportunities that have shown up. This, of course, is about non-attachment or, said another way, being present. The intention hasn't quite manifested yet, even if it is closer than ever. And that's what's happening. I would think and talk about how exciting it is that my intention is so close to manifesting! I'd take responsibility for those two opportunities having presented themselves and would call them evidence that what I've been wanting is almost here. Not one to waste positive energy, I would absolutely use the excitement and enthusiasm of these two possibilities to reinforce my original intention more and more and more. Now I don't even have to fake feeling it or conjure the feeling as I might have when I first created the intention, now I am authentic about feeling it all. By staying focused on the intention and, in particular, capitalizing on the emergence of all of the positive energy, I remain a vibrational match for what it is I'm wanting. There is nothing to dilute it. I am not attached to either of the options that have shown up, I am more and more and more firm in my knowing that this intention will manifest, and I continue to leave it up to The Universe to figure it all out. Maybe the third option will be better than either of the first two. Who knows?

Subtle differences, perhaps, or perhaps not. But given the choice, I always advocate for holding fast to the intention until it manifests. It's all about vibration, all about staying present, all about not attaching to outcomes.

The Question Was About Divorce

2010-06-21T11:24:00.001-07:00

After a talk I recently gave about Spiritually Responsible Living, there was a question about how to approach a divorce from a spiritually responsible perspective. I answered in whatever way I answered and then, true to form, thought of the exact perfect answer when I was on my way home. In truth, I may have given it even then. But it's the same answer for any issue we are just beginning to confront and the answer is actually another question: What does it mean to you that you are getting a divorce/in this situation?

By looking right away at what we're thinking when we enter a, shall we say, challenging situation is to look at what beliefs you are forming, in real time, about the circumstance. Beliefs matter because they create the experiences we are going to have. It's like signing a contract for a particular experience which is great, unless we don't want to have that particular experience. For example, maybe this person was thinking this was the greatest thing ever to happen to her. If so, her experience of it, based on that belief and likely some others, will be the greatest thing ever to happen to her. If, on the other hand, she was thinking about how awful it was and how her life was destined to not work out well, there's an experience she may not want to sign up for. Catching any and all beliefs as we are making them is a tremendous way to start a process of any kind.

I love asking what does it mean to you? because the answers virtually always come in the form of a belief or, at the very least, will point to beliefs. So regardless of the situation, finding out what you believe about it upfront and getting clear about what you want from the experience (intentions) is always a great start.

Whose Stuff Is It Anyway?

2010-03-17T12:30:00.000-07:00

We are all connected. And we are all, in one way or another, working through old stuff, shedding it, and creating new stuff. Big fun, right? Even if we're not fully aware that that's what we're doing.

So as we engage this process, setting intentions and getting in touch with whatever beliefs we are carrying that are not in alignment with those intentions, there's an extremely simple idea that I think can help all of us. When you discover a belief that is not in alignment with what you are wanting, when you feel the weight of it and wonder if you'll ever be able to work through it or transmute it or whatever you might call it, consider that the belief you are working with was never yours to begin with. Let me say that again: it was never yours to begin with.

In order to grasp this, consider the context for the Spiritual Workout in the first place: that we are spiritual beings having human experiences. Okay. So what that means is that the being part of us is Spirit. Whole, complete, pure Love, pure Light. The fear that creates "I'm not good enough" and "I don't deserve this" and "the rules are just different for me" and all of those entrenched thoughts that we carry in our DNA and in our bodies and in our subconsciouses are not of the Light, pure and simple. They are not of the Light. They are and can only be created by fear. And even if it's clearly your own fear that fuels your embodying such beliefs, your fear is not who you are. Your fear is a symptom of your perceived separation from Source. This is what it means that your non-serving, limiting beliefs were never yours.

And for good measure, because we are all connected and we've been at this humanity thing for a while, we are all carrying around stuff that reaches far beyond who we are - other people's stuff! So that's another way to think of our "junk" as not ours to begin with. As you add this thought into your process - that it was never yours to begin with - I am sure you will find it easier to transmute, dis-create, and leave behind once and for all your non-serving, limiting beliefs.

With gratitude to Jim Self for this wonderful reminder.

Facebook

2010-03-12T00:03:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of being present, I will simply say that there is now a Spiritual Workout page on Facebook.

It's a quick and easy way to see what classes and workshops are happening at the moment and there is also a Discussion Board offering another place for us to dialogue. First topic? Compassion.

Please accept this open invitation to participate as you are inspired to.

See you on the FB pages...:)

A New Trick

2010-03-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

Even though I have known about it for years and have been "exposed" to it a number of times by people I love, admire, and respect, I only very recently connected to EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) a/k/a meridian tapping or plain old tapping. When the student is ready the teacher appears and so hat's off to Nick Ortner, his sister Jessica, and everyone and anyone on their team who recently presented the World Tapping Summit.

There are reams and reams of information about tapping that you can find online by searching "tapping" or "EFT" or "meridian tapping" or "The Tapping Solution" (a movie about the subject) or more, so I won't go in to detail about what it is and how it started and how it works and all of that. (But here's one link to get you started.) What I do want to say is how much it is helping me in my personal life and how much I know it will enhance, complement, and add volumes to the Spiritual Workout work we do.

The basic idea is that our subconscious mind is hugely and tremendously more powerful than our conscious mind. Everything we work on with the concepts is about the conscious mind which, of course, is an extremely important part of our human lives. The image I've been getting is that of the subconscious powering the vessel (us) and the conscious mind doing the steering. The concepts help us to steer and tapping into the subconscious allows us to harness its power more and more and more effectively. Tapping is actually a combination of acupressure and psychology - we physically tap on meridian points or acupressure points in our bodies while we talk through whatever it is that's going on with us - thoughts and feelings, "positive" and "negative." So we are either tapping out non-serving material or tapping in serving material.

We touch on the subconscious, for example, when we engage an intention and then look for the beliefs we have that may not align with the intention. Or just a sinking feeling of some sort. I have been able to offer you some processes for working with non-serving beliefs, but nothing I've ever encountered or shared comes close to the power of this particular technique. And one of the most fascinating aspects of it is how different people are utilizing it in more and more creative ways. Right now I'm super excited about using it in my work with couples and am looking forward to incorporating it into my grief and loss work. Not to mention the fact that Spiritual Workout classes seem to be turning into tapping classes - and that's fine with me! In private sessions and in almost no time, I've worked with people with chronic pain, sexual abuse, weight loss, and other issues - all of whom felt relief on the spot.

Now keep in mind that one of the things you will hear from people who tap is "I've been tapping for years" or "I've been tapping on that issue for weeks." So while energy moves quickly and results - in the form of a change in thoughts and feelings - are often experienced in minutes, because it's the vast ocean of the subconscious, there's a vast ocean of stuff to clear! For the time being, I've been replacing my meditation time with tapping time - every day.

I strongly encourage you to investigate tapping for yourself to see if you spark to it. I will also be more than happy to share with you what I know and to guide you through some issues if you want help - in private sessions or in class. How we language through the process is critical and maybe all that psychotherapy experience I've had will come in handy after all!

It All Depends On...

2010-03-03T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here's the scene: Your friend is talking to you and it's clear that s/he is needing to express some stuff about something that clearly has her/him distraught. Your inspiration says be compassionate and you choose to listen and listen some more. Eventually s/he winds down and by now you have at least half a dozen ideas/recommendations/suggestions about what s/he should do. For your next move you:

Offer up your ideas in one fell swoop
Spoon feed your ideas to him/her, one at a time, starting with your least favorite
Spoon feed your ideas to him/her, one at a time, starting with your most favorite
Offer up only your best idea
None of the above

Survey says? None of the above! Of course. Why? Because it isn't about you, it's about him/her. Your choice, then, to be compassionate would extend to asking your friend what it is s/he wants? Plain and simple. As in, So now that you've shared all of that with me, which I appreciate, what is it you would like to see happen? What's your goal? Or, said another way, what is your intention? This is what your course of action all depends on: your friend's intention(s) or wants or desires or goals etc.

Once you have ascertained his/her intentions, you will have a much clearer picture of how to proceed. If, for example, s/he says Oh, nothing, I just wanted to vent, then you can pack up your ideas and suggestions and use them another time. Maybe. If, for example, s/he says Oh my God, I have no idea, perhaps you can help her/him figure it out - with or without your brilliant ideas. If, for example, s/he says That's such an insightful question and here's exactly what I want to see happen, well then you can see if any of your ideas align with his/her intention(s) - before you share them! And it could even happen that once you learn his/her intention(s), you will generate a new set of ideas altogether.

In the end, it all depends on him/her, who s/he says s/he wants to be, where s/he says s/he is going, etc. and so forth.

Online Dating

2010-02-23T10:28:00.000-08:00

So the question of online dating has come up a bunch of times recently which, of course, is why I'm talking about it here, on the blog, a place where the Spiritual Workout dialogue continues...

Should I? Shouldn't I? Those are the basic questions, yes? Well right off the bat, there are beliefs and judgments (sometimes our judgments are beliefs) about the whole thing: online dating makes sense for busy people; it's a numbers game and online dating really helps with that; online dating is for losers; people like me don't do online dating; it's not romantic; it's so clinical; it's so efficient, and on and on. Of course, none of these or myriad other related thoughts are right or wrong, good or bad. They are what they are.

But the bigger issue, of course, is what is it you are wanting with regard to a relationship? What, said the Spiritual Workout way, is your intention? When we get very clear on what that is - I'm looking for someone to marry; I'm looking for someone to have sex with; I'm wanting to "experiment" with dating, etc. - then we move into the old listen to inspiration concept knowing that once our intention is clear, it helps with the choices we make day-to-day about the subject at hand and those choices are informed by listening to inspiration.

So maybe you will have a vivid dream that compels you to join a yoga class and, on the second class, there she is! Or, in the course of a few days, three different people mention match.com to you, a 30-day free trial shows up in your experience, and two weeks later, there he is! Or everywhere you look you suddenly see signs and advertisements for a cruise to the Carribbean, you book it, and there she is! Simplified? Maybe, maybe not - that part depends on you. But what really depends on you is your intention and your willingness to listen to your inspiration which will tell you whether or not online dating is for you.

That, plus remembering that the computer is not your source of relationship. That would be The Universe, the entity to which you have made your intention so clear.

Peace?

2010-02-17T15:41:00.001-08:00

Great conversation in the Idyllwild class the other night: the whole notion of suppressing parts of ourselves in an effort to avoid conflict/achieve peace in a particular relationship. I know you know how often this comes up. We believe that our intention for peace is being fulfilled when we don't bring up certain things with certain people because we have the evidence: no arguments, no conflict, no confrontation.

Yet when we are the ones choosing such an action, we must ask ourselves, Did I really achieve peace? Is that peace I am feeling in me right now when I think about him/her/the situation? No; it's not. Listen to inspiration. We may feel some degree of good for not having an argument or conflict or confrontation on the surface of things, but if we are not truly feeling peace in ourselves, we have achieved nothing. And that's because everything is energy and the energy of the underlying problem has not been transmuted, it has only been transported, to another place, inside you.

Now that choice may still appear to be the best one and I'm not here to challenge that. But when we remember that we are infinite beings, temporarily enjoying our current bodies and personalities, and when we remember that everything is energy and that energy doesn't get created or destroyed (it just changes form), and that all of this means everything goes on and on, have we really achieved peace?

This, of course, leads to a host of other issues/discussions. One of them is our call to authenticity...that idea that we do the most for ourselves and for the world when we are our authentic selves, offering truth to everyone and anyone at every moment. Which leads to another issue/discussion which is, what is it we are actually responsible for? Am I responsible if my loving expression of authenticity (I really feel uncomfortable when I hear talk about people who are not in the room) offends another (Well who the hell do you think you are?)? To be compassionate is to allow people to have their experiences. To practice non-judgment is to realize that your authenticity is something that the other has created in their reality. Which, of course, is all about taking responsibility.

Is this only fun for me?

Love

2010-02-14T16:23:00.001-08:00

OK, so we start off with the premise that we are spiritual beings having human experiences. Spiritual beings, of Spirit, the energy that forms worlds, animates and lives in us, and in which we live. Many call that Love as well and if that's so, then Love is all there is and the rest is created by us from our fears and doubts and worries and anxieties and insecurities and on and on. And you think we're not powerful creators?!

So we go about our human experiences of life on this planet and much of it has to do with Love. Love from parents and to parents and siblings and extended family members. Love from and to our pets. Love from and to our teachers and good friends. Love from engaging our passions. Love, Love, Love. And, yet, for many of us, not so much. The Love didn't come from the parents and family members. There were no pets. Friendships have been spotty. We believe that Love has evaded us and will continue to evade us and it does. Beliefs matter. We believe we have been cheated, that we must be undeserving of Love, that life is unfair, and worse and worse. We resent that our fathers didn't love us the way they should have; we hate our mothers for not loving us the way they should have; we struggle with our friendships and romances because they are not loving us the way they should. Beliefs matter.

In fact, people are not the source of Love coming to us. People are vessels through which Love, Spirit, finds its way to us. If our expectations haven't been met, we find that we are often looking for Love in all the wrong places, believing it should come through certain particular vessels and missing all manner of other vessels through which it is trying to find us. So to remain open to it, to keep our hearts open, to re-evaluate our beliefs about Love and where it comes from and remembering that there is really nothing out there but Love, might portend a different experience.

Today is a day to rejoice in all the vessels through which Love has found you. It is also a day to consider what beliefs you may have that appear to be keeping it at bay.

Happy Valentine's Day.

I Feel Sorry For You

2010-02-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

Ouch. It hurt me to even say I feel sorry for you even though I was doing it to get your attention. And I wonder, does it feel good to you in any way to know that I may feel sorry for you? Probably not, yet this well-worn sentiment offers up an opportunity to look a little more closely at a place where our be compassionate concept stretches to.

I believe that when most people say they feel sorry for someone, they are well-intended in that they see someone they deem to be in distress of some sort and are using words that, for them, express compassion. I feel sorry for you is meant as an expression of affinity with the other and quite likely even a wish that the other didn't have to be going through what s/he is going through, according to the one who is feeling sorry. Yet none of this is being compassionate.

The moment we say we are sorry for another person's circumstance, we are judging that circumstance as bad in some way and also, in all likelihood, having lots of ideas about how and why the other's circumstance is bad, more and more judgment. We are also completely forgetting that each of us is here for a reason, the creator of our own reality, and whatever one has created for oneself is whatever one has created for oneself. So when we walk by a homeless man and tell our friend we feel sorry for him, we are really not connected to the man at all. Our judgment, in fact, has completely separated us from him in a way that prevents us from knowing that his homelessness is his comfort, a choice he makes, consciously. When you tell me you feel sorry for me because my partner died and I know you mean well, I don't really feel compassion from you because you are in your head about what it must be like while I am trying to tell you what it actually is like but you can't hear me - despite your good intentions.

To be compassionate is to meet someone where they are, without any judgment, and listen to what they have to say. If I knew that your brother or sister or son or daughter or husband or wife was just sent to combat in Afghanistan, I may have a number of ideas and thoughts and opinions about what that must be like, but if I am intending to show you compassion, I will keep all of my stuff out of it and simply leave an opening for you to tell me what it is like for you. I may ask, "Would you like to talk about that?" or say something like "I wonder what that must be like for you" if I choose to say anything at all. What I can know for sure is that if I offer anything in the realm of "I feel sorry for you," I have just said a whole lot more about myself than I have about you, have separated myself from you, and have not done a great job with my intention to be compassionate.

We all grew up hearing the expression there but for the grace of God go I. When we remember that we are all connected, that we have all been the pauper and the king, I think a far more apt way of putting it is, there go I. Do you think that will help you to check your judgment at the door?

Always More

2010-01-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

We are expanding beings living in an expanding Universe so it should come as no surprise - ever - that there is always more, always more, always more when it comes to our growth and development and, for sure, when it comes to practicing the concepts we practice at the Spiritual Workout.

I was lovingly reminded yesterday about a moment of absolute perfect presence I experienced a couple of months ago. It wasn't, on the surface, the best of times, I might be tempted to say. It was just a period of lots of things going on, seemingly going wrong, and I was doing my typical stuff with the concepts, just like I'd do with any of you, being present by accepting things as they were, thinking and feeling beyond where I was, consciously engaging the law of attraction and all that good stuff.

And as I was driving home - I remember the exact place it occurred - I had that moment of perfect presence. It was far beyond what we normally talk about in terms of being present by accepting everything as it is, without judgment. I've gotten pretty good at that. (Well, maybe, maybe not - but that's another story.) But this was different; it was beyond where I normally go. It was an actual embracing of and loving the very circumstances I was in at the time. Embracing and loving is a far cry from accepting and I felt it right then and there. I was contending with the various challenges, none of them particularly to my liking, and my ticket out of it - the muscle I had to grow - was radical acceptance in the form of embracing and loving all of it. How many times have we been exhorted to "love what is" and all of that? Please! But when it happens, it's glorious.

So yes, acceptance may very well be where being present starts. Accepting without judgment, yay. And then, apparently, there's embracing and loving. Is this news to me? Hardly. But it was sure fun to experience a deeper level of presence and to expand my being just a little bit more.

Thanks, Universe, for always giving us more.

Cleaning Before the Housekeeper Comes

2010-01-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

Someone recently told me that she wanted to schedule a private Spiritual Workout session, but didn't want to do it yet because there was so much going on in her life, so much negative stuff, that she wanted it to pass before we had our conversation about, ostensibly, whatever was going on in her life. Hmmm. I certainly understand this "cleaning up before the housekeeper comes" mentality because I get that way myself. I don't want to go to the chiropractor to be shown my weak spots, I'd much rather go in and show how little I need what he has to offer!

So I got to thinking about what it is that's happening behind this seemingly non-sensical approach to healing ourselves up and, of course, it comes down to beliefs. For me, because I put myself out there in the world as someone who essentially takes good care of himself and I fancy myself - at times - as being the very picture of optimum health, I've got some kind of belief around professional credibility if I discover that I'm not as healthful as I think. I can't do what I do and have issues myself. Not true, I know. But that's exactly the point of most any non-serving belief we harbor: they're not true.

When we don't want to know about ourselves or have others know about ourselves, it's only going to be because of what it means to us or, more succinctly, what our beliefs are about the situation. S/he will think less of me; I won't be able to handle the truth; if I let this problem in, more will surely follow. True? You decide.

More About Intentions

2010-01-09T10:43:00.000-08:00

I had the privilege during the holidays to work up close and personally with people who attended one of the "From Resolutions to Shiny 2010 Intentions" workshops I gave in southern California. The experience underscored a couple of important points that I want to reiterate here because who couldn't benefit from some reminders about intentions?

First and foremost, when I talk about intentions, I'm talking about an active engagement of the law of attraction. Remembering that we are always emitting a frequency, a vibration to which The Universe responds, the setting of intentions is about organizing our thinking, organizing our talking, and organizing our feelings so that the vibration we are emitting - the vibration that will be matched by The Universe - is something that we want to be/do/have/experience. That's why so often we say it's all about intention.

Another thing I was reminded of is how involved of a process the setting of intentions can be. In class we are always talking about how an intention can help here or there. We are always asking what the intentions are for various things that are going on in our lives. But there usually isn't enough time to give you the space to really explore all the dimensions of your intention from what it looks like to what it feels like to what life is like when you're living your desire to what non-serving beliefs you may have that can impede the intention from manifesting and so on. So when you are going about the business of setting intentions for yourself, it's important to really blow them out in all directions.

Also, the act of setting intentions very often leads to a clarification of what it is you are truly wanting. Many times in the recent workshops, what someone began with creating for his or her self turned into something else that was really bigger or more important. There's no magic formula here, but there definitely is benefit to sharing what you're doing with another trusted being, someone who can question you and help you focus more and more.

Finally, though hardly a magic formula, a valuable thing to explore is always what the benefit of the intention really is, as you see it. So, for example, you want to get a particular job. It may very well be that the job is merely what you see as your ticket to financial freedom so I would say that financial freedom, then, is your true desire. And we'd blow out what financial freedom looks like to you in all possible directions. By doing this, we let go of how it shows up which, incidentally, is how we're taught to engage the law of attraction. Surrender that part and then listen to inspiration as you move about in your life. It may lead you to that very job you had in mind. Then again, it may lead you to something far more spectacular.

My intention for this post has been fulfilled. There will probably be more one of these days. You've been warned.

It's Harder Not To 2

2010-01-04T19:12:00.000-08:00

On the radio show this morning I was expounding upon what I'd written here last week and now I'm here to expound upon what I talked about this morning. (I have a really fun job.)

There are a couple of important aspects to this whole "it's hard" thing to really keep in mind when you hear yourself saying it.

First, hear it as the belief it is. For those who are getting the hang of working with beliefs and experience in transmuting non-serving ones, this may be enough to snap you out of it all by itself.

Also, stop for a moment before you answer this question: What do I mean when I say "it's hard" or "it's really, really hard?" Regardless of whatever it is that's prompting you to state this belief, does it mean to you I am going to try? I'm not going to try? Does it mean I'm really so super excited about the challenge? Does it mean just another something I'll never accomplish? (Ouch.) Does it mean that I'll try, but it's completely okay if I don't 'get there' because it's really, really hard? Does it mean I have to stretch out of my comfort zone and I don't want to do that? Obviously, there's no right or wrong here, no judgment. But what an opportunity to uncover some non-serving beliefs. Oh yeah.

Also, know that whatever "it's hard" means to you is how you will experience it plain and simple.

Also, offer yourself an alternative thought, one that isn't so laden. If, as we were talking about this morning, you're finding it hard to be compassionate, don't offer "it's hard to be compassionate" to The Universe, over and over again. Offer "I'm learning to be compassionate" or "I'm exercising my compassion muscle" or "I'm fulfilling my intention to grow and develop" or "I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be."

Anything you'd add?

P.S. Here's this morning's show.

It's Harder Not To

2009-12-28T11:48:00.000-08:00

I would happily quote the various sources but, at this point, I don't even remember who and what they specifically are. I'm talking about the myriad authors, teachers, books, movies, and so on that talk about this thing called the law of attraction and how we can consciously engage it to create a reality to our liking since we are already engaging it - or it is engaging us! - to create a reality that may or may not be to our liking.

The concept is so easy - focus on that which you are wanting to experience. The concept is less easy, at least according to many of you who say it to me all the time, to practice in our daily lives. "It's hard. It's really, really hard," you've said to me in various ways for a fairly long time. And let's just get real clear for a moment - I'm only hearing this because of what I do for a living, not because my process is any different than yours. Not because I'm not practicing the same thing all the time. All the time. So I know of what I speak when I say to you, "It's harder not to."

You say to me, "it's hard to think of myself as being in a loving relationship when I'm in this cruddy one" and I say, isn't it harder to continue to think of yourself as unhappy when you really want to be happy? Isn't it harder to feel all the feelings associated with the anxiety and the fear and the worry and the doubt and the concern and the trouble than to carve out a bit of time to think about and feel about what life on the other side of this situation might look like?

Do you hear "it's hard" as the belief it is? Do you realize that believing it's hard guarantees that it will be hard? Do you also harbor beliefs like "this will never change" and "I will never get out of this mess." And, if so, do you honestly think that taking on a belief like "this situation is temporary" or "everything changes" is harder than holding the ones you are holding?

Trust me, I know what you mean when you say it is hard. I have experienced how hard it is more times than I could possibly count. But because of what I've learned about beliefs and what I've learned about the law of attraction and because I have practiced out the wazoo, I know that it need not be hard, that my current reality need not be my permanent reality, and that I can actually feel better - insuring that I manifest what I'm preferring all that much faster - when I don't layer excess baggage onto the effort I am already making.

Thanks. I just had to get that out.

Email Follow-Up

2009-12-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

With a bit more information from the emailer who prompted the last post, it's clear that there is a dynamic at play that comes up in relationships - or the ending of relationships - all the time. He acknowledged that his desire for a "break" was, ultimately, to soften the blow to his partner of a "break up." He is concerned that talking about a "break up" will be too much for the partner and have negative repercussions for him. This is a terrible position to be in and it points to a few different concepts.

First, there's the question of taking responsibility. Are we responsible for how others interpret or react to the things we do or say? No. No! Still, many of us are inclined to very willingly accept responsibility for other people's stuff. "I don't want to hurt his/her feelings" is a biggie as is, more sadly, "I'm afraid what he/she might do." The take responsibility concept means that we are each of us, individually, responsible for everything in our own lives - even experiencing the bad end of a break-up. Period. Yet when we attempt to "soften the blow" by assuming responsibility for another's reactions, we are not fully believing that each of us is responsible for our own experiences. And this is largely why we feel so badly - because we're out of sync with the ways of the Universe.

Second, there's a way to look at this through the lens of intentions matter. The person who is wanting the break-up is essentially saying that there are things going on in the relationship that are counter to what he's wanting to experience in relationship. Years into this one, that much is clear. So if his intentions are for a, b, and c and he is experiencing a, b, and a lot of x and y, then it's really nothing personal. It's just that this particular partnership doesn't fulfill the intentions of the one doing the breaking up. Again, most people are not yet willing to look at life this way, but it sure cuts down on the drama, doesn't it? More people practicing living by these concepts means far less drama in everyone's lives! But I digress. As I mentioned in the last post, there is also a really ripe opportunity for our emailer to really get clear, intention-wise, about what he wants to experience in relationship the next time around.

Finally, it feels appropriate to say something along the lines of everything is energy. If his hesitation to state clearly that he wanted to break up was based in fear about what the other would say or do, two things are going to happen. One, he's going to feel like crap. It's a helpless place to ever be in a position where one's peace of mind is dependent upon what another does. Two, being in a place of fear, a relatively low-frequency vibration, means that any and all thoughts that come to mind about what to do are going to be thoughts - because of the law of attraction - that vibrate in the same general range as fear. Not a recipe for health and wholeness.

If people's feelings are hurt because of circumstances (vs. you going out of your way with malice to specifically hurt them), you are not responsible for their hurt feelings. And yes, it's true, even if you do it with malice, you're still not responsible for what they created in their own experience. Now we're playing with the grown ups.

The Email Said...

2009-12-09T18:07:00.001-08:00

I received an email during Monday's radio show that there was not time to address on the air and I promised to do so here. Unfortunately, the emailer in question didn't say much more than that he wanted to "hear your thoughts on what the boundaries and meaning to one when one wants to take a break from their partner." He said that's what he was trying to do, but it was "so black and white" to his partner.

Two issues come to mind if I am reading the question correctly: intentions (of course and as always) plus communication. It sounds like our questioner wants to take a break from where they have been without severing ties completely and that the partner, given the "black and white" comment, is wanting in or out, all or nothing. So assuming I've got that right, I think it's all about the intentions of the questioner - on two levels.

I would ask him what he was intending to accomplish with this "break" and would also want to know if he was able to clearly communicate to his partner those intentions. But the real issue, as far as I can see, is that he's unhappy with the relationship he has so there is enormous opportunity to create for himself how he wants to experience relationship. If he were experiencing what he wanted now, he wouldn't be looking to take a break. So what's missing for him? What is he not experiencing that he wants to be experiencing? Is he working on that level of intention? And what beliefs does he have about either ending this relationship or endeavoring to change it (as a "break" implies something less than "working on it")? In other words, if he really wants to leave the relationship but has a belief that leaving would, for example, devastate the other person, is the intention for the break to soften that blow? Or, for another example, if he's clear about what he would like to experience in relationship but doesn't believe it can happen, is the intention for the break to see if he should settle for what he has? Or, for another example, if he senses that this relationship is really over but has a belief that he does not do well alone, is the intention for the break to soften the blow of being alone? Or, or, or?

I think that regardless of what's happening, a clarifying of intention(s) is critical as is an inventory of beliefs around staying together, breaking up, working it out, etc. And if you're the emailer, I'd love to know if your question was understood and/or answered!

Reaching for a Higher Frequency Thought

2009-12-08T18:49:00.000-08:00

On yesterday's radio show, the caller was intending calm and feeling fear. Not uncommon. Yet the Universe can and will only respond to the fear because that is what is dominant and it out-weighs the thoughts - more in the range of wishing and hoping - of wanting the calm.

This, as we said on the show, is part of the nitty-gritty of life and, thus, the Spiritual Workout. There's where we are and where we want to be. There's what is and there's what we are intending. The law of attraction tells us we get a match for our dominant vibrations, so how do we go from fear to calm? And how do we do it repeatedly, cultivating it, so that calm becomes the dominant vibration?

It's nothing new, by any means. (Of course, none of this is, is it?!) On the show I asked the caller if she could reach for a thought that may not be all the way to calm, but is definitely a notch up from fear. I wanted to expound upon that idea a little bit more specifically and this is right out of the Abraham-Hicks teachings (as I recall). So there are the fear thoughts and there are the calm thoughts. And it's not possible in the moment to make the jump from fear to calm in one shot so a thought that's a notch or two (or more) up from fear could be something like I know this is temporary or I've survived worse than this or I can't create in someone else's reality. These true statements will feel MUCH better than any thoughts of fear, hands down. And like climbing a ladder, the view gets better and better as we reach for higher vibration thoughts. In other words, having made the choice to hold a higher frequency thought, we are now available for other thoughts that vibrate in the same range. And we can just go higher and higher.

There isn't a feeling that's not connected to a thought and there isn't a thought that can't be replaced with another thought. We just have to get in the habit of remembering that this is so.

Practice, Practice, Practice

2009-12-05T10:03:00.000-08:00

In a recent session, a client was remarking about the discipline required to give a new thought, a new belief and/or a new intention the traction it needs. And, for most of us, I believe he hit the nail on the head. That, in fact, is the entire point of the Spiritual Workout - to practice over and over, time and again, what applying these universally spiritual concepts to our daily lives really means.

It means we must be clear about what we're wanting; it means we must give time and attention and energy to what it is we're wanting; it means we must be vigilant about rooting out old, non-serving, opposite-of-what-we're wanting thoughts - all while we are still experiencing the results of the old thinking. The law of attraction governs us all. It can, in the early stages, make us feel as though we are being ridiculously Pollyanna-like while our lives are in various stages of disarray and unpleasantness. How can I think all the good thoughts of peace and prosperity I'm intending for myself when I'm really pissed off at my spouse and there's not even enough money to go out for a decent dinner?

By practicing. And by using your intellect, your mind. And by stopping to see what it is you are broadcasting to the Universe in terms of your thoughts and feelings. Are they in line with what you want to be experiencing, with what you're intending? If not, you've got some practicing to do. So whenever you can and as soon as you can, practice shifting your energy. Practice looking for the thoughts that are connected to your feelings. She's doing it again. Practice looking for higher vibration thoughts. She's just playing a part in my movie. Practice consciously choosing one thought over another. Practice feeling what different thoughts feel like (mind and body are connected). Practice setting an intention. I intend to be honorable in my communication. Practice seeing how having the intention helps you with what choice(s) to make. Practice what it's like to take responsibility for what's happening.

It hurt my ears when I heard it as a kid at piano lessons, but it's no less relevant today: practice, practice, practice.

Do Not Underestimate!

2009-12-01T11:28:00.000-08:00

We often spend a great deal of time in our heads agonizing over what choice or decision to make with regard to anything at all. We run through the options in our heads over and over again - thinking - until sometimes our heads actually hurt from the swirling of energy in them. The process of thinking all those thoughts - not only the options we're considering but also the bevy of beliefs and fears and what-ifs that we pile on to the various options - can weigh us down and paralyze us. So with thanks to "S" - who dropped in to last night's Spiritual Workout in Palm Springs (for the first time, I might add) - we were reminded of the power of listening to inspiration.

This concept is the one that puts us in touch with the being part of our human-ness, the part of us that is connected to our higher selves, to Spirit, to the Universe, etc. and which knows the truth. After filling us in on the background of a momentous choice she was in the process of making, I simply invited "S" to close her eyes for a moment while she held the thought of the first option in her head and body. What did it feel like to hold that thought?, I asked. Her response was that she felt a vibration which she described as anxiety. I then invited her to hold the thought of the second option in her head and body and asked the same question. Her response was that she felt serene, peaceful, and sad. In that moment it was abundantly clear to her and to everyone who was there which choice was the "right" choice. (The sadness made sense given the choice she was making.)

So this definitely hits on listen to inspiration - for that's what the concept means! It also hits on mind and body are connected and choices abound. Importantly, we also hit on intentions matter. As we know, intentions matter because they help us with the choices we make every moment of every day. And "S's" intention clearly helped her to make the choice she was making.

Phew! Now as you move throughout your life, don't underestimate the value of staying connected to the being that animates you!

Soliciting Questions About Intentions

2009-11-28T13:41:00.000-08:00

It has been a bit longer than usual between posts and other than Thanksgiving and lots on the have an attitude of gratitude front, what has been in my face for weeks and getting stronger is intentions, intentions, and more intentions.

So...this Monday's radio show will be all about intentions. I'll cover why intentions matter and the mechanics of setting them multi-dimensionally, and how to use them once they've been set. And I want to be able to answer your specific questions directly so please, if there is something you're wanting to know about this whole topic, leave your questions by clicking on "Comments" below and/or sending an email to thespiritualworkout@gmail.com.

Thanks and...I'll see you on the radio. This Monday, November 30, from 10-11AM Pacific time. The toll-free listener line is 1-866-472-5795 and you can find it all right here.

More Low Level Dreaming - Extremely Low

2009-11-12T10:00:00.001-08:00

In a private session yesterday dedicated to focusing on intentions for financial abundance, I saw - thanks to a beautiful soul who let me in - so very clearly how everything is energy and how because the law of attraction is always on it matters what we put out to The Universe because The Universe always responds to exactly what we're putting out. And what we're putting out is essentially the sum total of our thoughts and feelings, our dominant thoughts and feelings.

So while this person very much needs and wants a degree of financial freedom/independence/support - some actual money - she has some very entrenched ideas about how awful money is, how corrupt our entire system of money is, how tyrannical she thinks capitalism is, how terrible people who have money are, and I'm just getting started. From this perspective, she doesn't want anything to do with it. At all! Yet she regularly experiences times when she is so low and really, really needs and wants some - just enough, maybe - but still has the need and desire for some cold, hard cash.

And though it took a while to get there, this explained so clearly why she was virtually unable to craft an intention for her financial life. I typically start with that age-old question: In a perfect world where nobody can say no and everything is possible, what do you want for yourself with regard to money? She could not answer the question and, in fact, was practically tormented by it. She was all over the place ranging from not wanting to have anything to do with it to not wanting a penny more than she absolutely needed to pay her bills to wanting $250,000 show up in her checking account and back to not wanting any at all and to live somehow, somewhere, where she didn't need it. (A perfectly legitimate choice, of course, but not one she is actively pursuing.)

I told her that if I were The Universe, I'd be very confused because I'd be hearing her pleas for money and experiencing her shutting me down when I tried to offer her some. I told her that her disdain for money was the very thing that kept the money away from her. Plain and simple. And the good news was that she could, all by herself and relatively easily, change her views about money and change her experience with it. But she doesn't want to change her views. And she wants money to pay her bills. And she doesn't want to participate in the system. And she's in the system. And the mortgage is due. And some money was going to come from a source that didn't quite deliver. And the stress of not having it increases her disdain for it. And she wonders why The Universe isn't delivering.

Fortunately, there's a follow-up session in her very near future.

Low Level Dreaming

2009-11-03T12:48:00.001-08:00

I had a follow-up conversation earlier with someone who had called in to the radio show yesterday. In the context of talking about confusion, I wanted to steer her into sharing with us what her intention was because it is very likely that when we're feeling confused, we're disconnected from our intentions. And it is also true that when we talk about intentions, very often we are talking about not just stating what it is, but flushing it out in all its dimensions and then, essential to the process, feeling what it feels like. This person was talking about a career and a lifestyle change so there was LOTS to do in the intentions realm. And she was stuck.

If you listen (I take her call about halfway through the show which you can find here), you'll see that I actually do a "better" job than she does articulating and being enthusiastic about what it is she is wanting to create for herself. And I'm so grateful that she was on the program with this particular dynamic because I see more and more and more people in the same place of what I would call low level dreaming. Law of attraction says we get what we vibrate with and, for most of us, our vibrations are best monitored via our thoughts and feelings. So in our follow-up, she was asking why it was that we would even do that; that we would dream at such a low level, un-enthused, un-connected, underwhelmed. And I had two answers - maybe you have others.

The first answer was that we stop ourselves from dreaming - and that is the word I'm using as something that helps us to get in touch with that which we want/desire and what we are intending to create. But right there is the rub because most of us aren't intending at all; rather, we're hoping and wishing and praying and such. And that's because of beliefs we have about how and why our dream could never happen anyway. So we don't even bother to have the dream/desire/goal, we can't really articulate it, we struggle to imagine what it would feel like to have it, and so we dream at a very low level if at all. All because of non-serving beliefs.

The second answer was a bit more insidious, a bit more under the surface - but not that far under. And that is everyone's favorite concept: taking responsibility. If we really step up to declaring to the Universe that which we want/that which we desire, even if we are not aware of it on a conscious level, it often triggers in us an understanding that whoa, wait a minute, I really am in control here. I'm in charge. I'm responsible. And it may even run over into something like Holy crap! If I do this, if I create this thing, then what might be asked of me? What other responsibility might be thrust upon me if I take this one on? And hat's off to this courageous woman because as we were talking about it she said, yes, she thought there was definitely something to this idea just below the surface; that she was resisting taking what I like to call Capital R Responsibility for her desire. And it made sense to her, then, why she'd been dreaming at such a low level.

Why else might you be engaged in low level dreaming?

Radio Ruminations - Episodes 1-7

2009-10-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

I've received so much support for the Spiritual Workout radio show and so many questions about how it's going that I've decided to share some behind-the-scenes ruminations which may offer a bit of context, if not entertainment, for anyone who has listened or will listen to these early episodes.

And if you would like even more context for this post, click here.

Episode 1 - September 14
A long-held intention was manifesting and I was super excited. Given that it was Day One, I made sure I had some callers lined up for this brand new call-in radio show. Before I knew it, the intro music was fading and I was talking: into my phone, sitting at my desk, perched in front of my laptop (that's so the engineer and I can communicate while I'm on the air via Instant Message (IM), something I don't ever use in real life). I was off and running, saying whatever I was saying and looking forward to getting to the first call because, really, I only care about responding to people's circumstances and situations. At one point I noticed that there was a note on my screen - I hadn't been looking - and it said "We can't hear you!" Whoa!!! Now I thought I'd done my due diligence by using the type of phone I was told to use so there I am, minutes into my first show, yammering, and now reading that I'm not being heard? YIKES! I'm sure if you listen you can tell when I read that message. Not smooth.

I took the first caller and was starting to have fun feeling how long it takes to get to issues, carrying a caller over a break and what-not, and getting used to how the engineer would feed me callers on my screen. While I was talking with one, he'd write "Joe is on hold" or something like that. I'd take "Joe," then see that "Amy" was on hold, etc. I hadn't asked any of these Spiritual Workout veterans what they'd be talking to me about and, for the most part, felt pretty good about how it was flowing (even though two callers in a row kind of had the same issue). During the last break, while everyone else was ostensibly listening to commercials, the engineer came on the phone and said my Executive Producer wanted to talk to me. He switched me to her and she said there were 14 people on hold. Yahoo! I was stunned, shocked, and amazed, even when I learned later that three of them were my friends and two of them were calling from overseas - from different countries. Maybe the rest were friends but maybe they were regular listeners and I was truly off and running. I was bummed, though, at missing the opportunity to show advertisers that I had an international audience on Day One. Here's the first show.

Episode 2 - September 21
Without any discussion with my producer or anyone, I thought I'd just see what happened as the second episode unfurled. I mean there were those 14 on hold, three of whom let me know it was them, and I figured the others were listeners of the network who'd found my show. Yet on Sunday, just in case, I called the fifth person from the week before and asked if she'd call in. Thank God, because she was the only caller on the line! So moments into that program I thought, okay, great. Go with it. See what it's like for the show when you stay with one person for the whole time, and that's what I was prepared to do. Her issue was financial abundance and I know most everyone can benefit from hearing about that. Toward the end of the third segment (there are four), the engineer let me know that "Christine" was on the line. Wow! Yay! A caller I hadn't solicited myself! Turns out "Christine" was Kristin, one of my Spiritual Workout regulars, listening anyway and figuring I'd needed a break. Bless her little heart. Here's the second show.

Episode 3 - September 28
The way things were going, I felt like I still had to make sure I had callers, but my well of go-to people was drying up almost as fast as my willingness to ask anymore. So I turned from Spiritual Workout regulars to solicit the help of a few friends to ask them to ask their friends/clients if they'd be interested in calling. I was not enjoying this one single bit, by the by. One friend went way above and beyond and within a few days connected me with five people, none of whom panned out. The sixth, however, was a woman who kinda sorta seemed like she'd be okay to call in, to do a favor, but is a practitioner herself and didn't really have anything she was working on personally. And though I absolutely appreciate the willingness, "favors" are not that helpful as I don't want to have an ounce of anything on the show that is contrived or inauthentic. I also was never interested in doing an interview show.

Cut to Sunday night. Nothing lined up yet for Monday's show except a pretty fair commitment from at least one person to call in with something she was sincerely working on. Meanwhile, I thought about the other "volunteer" and began to consider having her on as a guest. I absolutely don't ever want to do an interview show, but she had a method for working with beliefs which is a huge part of what I do and I thought it did fit, even if I hadn't prepared for anything like that. We talked and she eagerly and happily agreed to do it. The plan was to take any callers that may show up (I knew I'd have at least the one), I'd work with her/them on uncovering a non-serving belief, then I'd introduce my guest, Regine, and she'd work with them on transmuting that belief into something more serving. Perfect. And if nobody called, it would be me and her for the hour.

The show starts and five minutes go by, then ten, then I'm into the first break when, voila!, the person I'd been expecting finally called in. Phew! And admittedly, I did not prepare enough. There were some technical issues far beyond my control and the two of them could not really hear one another in the beginning. Great radio! When my guest was working her process with the caller, finally, she needed to be silent for a while. All well and good except, hello, this is radio! I did ask during the break if my talking with the caller would disrupt her work and she said no. Excellent. Except I thought she said yes and so there is way more "dead air" than should ever exist on radio, I think. But, in the end, the process was demonstrated and the lesson that beliefs are things that have energy and can always be transformed, came through. At least I hope it did; I haven't been able to listen to this one yet myself. Here's the third show.

Episode 4 - October 5
I had been away for the weekend and was getting more and more frustrated that making sure I had callers was something I had to think about at all. And I was painfully aware that my attitude needed changing. My friend, Elizabeth, picked me up at the airport and we hung out at her house for a bit before I made the two-hour plus drive home. We wound up having what was, for me, a "typical Spiritual Workout conversation" ending with what was no becoming a familiar refrain: I wish we'd had this conversation on the show! And, in the end, we did. She agreed to come on and talk with me about what we'd talked about the day before. Not as great as a fresh, live caller with a question and/or issue, perhaps, but a true, actual story nonetheless and way better than me rambling on by myself because, really, again, that's just not what I ever wanted to do. Even though I did for the beginning of that show - tried out just yammering by myself for the first segment or so, my resistance to doing it breaking down ever, so, slow, ly.

Also in this episode, I was given my first opportunity to respond to a question I received in an email. The question actually came in at the top of the hour and I didn't really have any time to "rehearse" an answer. It was interesting to respond without being able to check in and make sure I was interpreting the question correctly, but there it was. I got to it at the end of the show and was most grateful to my friend, Tim, for sending it in, unsolicited. He'd been listening to previous shows and really had that question. It's all the same to me. Here's the fourth show.

Episode 5 - October 12
I tend to be one of those people who, if you ask me how I'm doing, will probably tell you - and probably way more than you ever wanted to know. The day before this show, Sunday, I had, for about the fifth time, heard myself respond to the question, "How's the show going?" and it wasn't pretty. I was really very unhappy with how it was going, about having to think not only about asking people to call in , directly, but planning subjects to talk about if nobody did. I didn't feel like I was producing good programs and didn't want to do anything to market them or approach sponsors with them. In my mind, before I began doing it, the show would be super easy: people call in with a question/issue and we look at it through the lens of the 15 concepts. That's what I do; that's who I am; that's what happens with me virtually everywhere I go and in virtually every conversation I have (even if I don't share the concept stuff with them). And all I want to do is that on my radio show - and it just wasn't happening.

My friend, George, was the last of those conversations and I knew when we hung up late Sunday afternoon that my long-overdue, serious attitude adjustment was upon me. And that I had to create a show that I could feel good about, even if it was completely different from anything I'd set out to do. I was doing a full-blown Spiritual Workout on myself:

We are here for a reason "Preparing topics" is something I've long resisted and it was an idea that was certainly persisting; doing this actually does help my work in many areas, overall, thus "the reason"
Be present I very much needed to accept that while a steady flow of callers each week was/is my future, it wasn't yet my present
Law of attraction I absolutely wasn't emitting a vibration that was in line with my desire
Take responsibility This "situation" was nobody's fault - I created it by and for myself, consciously or otherwise
Intentions matter In the midst of what wasn't (a steady flow of callers), I took time to re-affirm my intention for a show with a steady flow of callers
Beliefs matter Ouch. I was developing a belief that nobody was listening, which just exacerbated the negativity

(And that's the highlight reel.)

As evening approached, I had confirmed that one person - yes, a friend - would call in to discuss grief and loss. We had been chatting two or so days earlier and just as she started, I stopped her and asked, "What are the chances we could not have this conversation now and you would call in to the show and we could have it then?" She thought about it and agreed, willing to offer me support in that way, wavered a bit throughout the weekend, then said yes, for sure. I was waiting to hear from someone else from one of my classes who, ultimately, declined. By that point, though, I was fully processed. I was on fire and had absolutely reached the point where I was almost hoping there wouldn't be any callers. I'll show 'em! Thanks to Debra, though, for making this episode happen. Here's the fifth show.

Episode 6 - October 19
Now I get it and I am full-on ready to do all the things I didn't want to do with the show: start with a topic on my own (in this case, relationships) and be prepared to talk and talk about that topic in case nobody called in! So I was ready and it's amazing what a little bit of be present will do because I then had another idea: do a couples series! In no time I found a couple willing to work with me privately and come on to the show each week for the last segment and share their process with the audience. And then I thought to invite - and gratefully they accepted - a couple I had worked with previously and who could "testify" as to how looking at their near-30-year relationship through the lens of the concepts had significantly helped them in their marriage. I interviewed them, yammered for quite a while on the topic, then introduced the "new" couple and the series. Here's the sixth show.

Episode 7 - October 26
I intended to do one more show before having a serious chat with my Executive Producer because I wanted to be sure I'd cleared out my own personal stuff from whatever business issues were at play. I had come to grips with the idea that I had, perhaps, developed a wee bit of an expectation (SPIRITUAL VIOLATION, I KNOW!) about achieving that steady flow of callers. What did I know about all that anyway, except vague statistics about how many people listen to the network and to the channel each week, each month? I just didn't think that six weeks in I'd have to concern myself with it. And how typical of me to experience things moving more slowly than I would like.

So for this show I knew we'd have our first installment of the couples series and after I made a small pitch at my Saturday morning class, one of my regulars said she'd call on Monday with something she'd been working on. Great! But I was completely relaxed and if nobody else called, great also! I had some topics lined up ready to spew about if that was needed. But, of course, because I had stopped resisting, everything flowed. Karen called in as promised and another "surprise" caller came with another issue and, before I knew it, we were into the couples series. Ahhh.

* * *

Of course, I welcome any and all of your comments and feedback. Mostly, though, I appreciate your interest and participation in this work. I've said it before: without you, there is no Spiritual Workout so thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for giving me a really great job.

Beliefs Matter - Resources

2009-10-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

In this work we often contend with discovering beliefs we have that may not be serving us. The idea is that beliefs are thoughts we think over and over again, that thoughts are things, that everything is energy, that energy doesn't get created or destroyed, it merely changes form, and so any non-serving belief we may have can always be transmuted - change its form - from what it is to something else. Always. The trick is, how?

Oftentimes it is simply acknowledging the belief, bringing it into our conscious awareness, that is enough for us to decide we don't need it, allowing us to let it go on the spot. And oftentimes it's extremely difficult to look at a belief we know clearly does not serve us, but is something with which we identify so strongly that we are unsure about and/or fearful of who we might be without it that we struggle to let it go despite knowing it doesn't serve us. And everything in between.

I am an expert at helping people identify their beliefs - those that serve and those that do not. I am not, however, an expert in the many ways we have of transmuting them, though I certainly have a technique or two that I use myself and teach others when we're together in physical space. And there are a few I know about which I offer to you for your own investigations:

Theta Healing Please search "theta healing" on your own as I am unsure about specifically where to look. But beyond what you might find, there is an episode of the Spiritual Workout radio show that demonstrates this process on the air which you can find here: http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vepisode.aspx?aid=41430
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Also known as "tapping." A basic Internet search will yield a plethora of results including how-to's.
PSYCH-K This is the site for an approach endorsed by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D., author of "The Biology of Belief." I am not completely sure that this is the "official" site for PSYCH-K, so please be sure to do your own search here as well.
The Work This is the work of Byron Katie and it cuts right to the chase. I have known about it for some time and only recently investigated it myself. The word that best describes this process, for me, is "pure." It cuts right to the core of the question and you can see for yourself in some videos on her site.

As you work with any of these and as you discover other techniques, I will appreciate hearing of your experiences.

Almost Mr. Wonderful or Actual Mr. Wonderful?

2009-10-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

I've had pretty much the same conversation three times now this week so that's why you're now reading about it. In an attempt at clarity, I'll focus on one Spiritual Workout participant's experience. She was lamenting about how much she doesn't like something that a romantic interest was doing - something that seems inherent to who he is. As she talked and as I listened, a wonderful opportunity emerged to freeze frame on the issue and to then see a bunch of stuff that might otherwise have slipped away.

So there it was - this behavior that was not to her liking, not at all, because what he was doing left her feeling disconnected from him. Period. And this was hardly the first time. She was kind of going on about it until I asked her if feeling disconnected was something she was aiming for in a relationship. I know it sounds like I was perhaps being snide but really I was just underscoring and putting in bold and in italics - for her! - something that was about to slip away from her awareness: that she truly wants to experience deep connection in relationship. Period. This guy, despite a rather large quantity of other really great characteristics, doesn't offer deep connection. It's not what he's about and he probably doesn't even really understand her because he feels connected to her at the very same time she feels disconnected from him.

So freeze frame on at least one of her intentions: to feel a deep connection with her partner/spouse. Great! Hold on to that! All that happened was that Almost Mr. Wonderful showed up and offered, pretty much, everything, everything but deep connection. She's at the top of the steps, so to speak, and he's made it to within two or three or from the top and he's not going any further. So now what? If the ego is driving the situation, probably lots of drama. But he's soooo wonderful in soooo many ways and he loves his mom and he wants to have kids and he can probably change, pulling on his arm imploring him to come to the top so they can be on even footing. And, and....and I'm rolling my eyes and tapping my foot because, with all due respect, who cares? I'm actually, for a moment, holding faster to her intention than she is! Do you want to spend all your life trying to pull him up those last couple of stairs or dropping down to meet him? Maybe get under him and push him to the top? Then go for it. But I thought you said you wanted deep connection which, to belabor the metaphor, resides at the top of the stairs where you are - or used to be.

And in this freeze frame we see some other stuff like beliefs. "Well I'm not sure I can find anyone better." Then you won't; absolutely. "And I think I'm running out of time." Another belief. Maybe I'm being too picky. Belief again. Not to mention how choices abound with regard to standing firm in or bending the original intention. (Of course, there's nothing wrong with changing intentions, unless we're changing them based on faulty beliefs.) And we also are reminded in this freeze frame that the law of attraction governs us all, is always on, and need to make choices about where to focus our energy: On what isn't or on what we want? The Universe doesn't much care; it will simply respond "Yes!" to whatever. If you stand at the top of the stairs and keep your attention and focus on the view from there, you will attract someone who is already there. Actual Mr. Wonderful.

So having looked at all of this with her, I asked how ready she was to use what she had created for herself - a guy who could almost reach where she was - to bolster and re-affirm her intention for someone who could go the distance. I asked her if she was willing to look at the beliefs she harbored that may prevent her from re-asserting her intention. I asked her if she was aware of the full range of choices available to her and then asked her to consider whether she wanted to make those choices from a place of fear or a place of love. And I asked her if she could see that Almost Mr. Wonderful is not all bad. He is a reflection of where she is in her process of attracting to herself the perfect partner for her. He and his myriad good qualities show her where she is vibrating NOW and where she still has room for raising her own vibration to match that of her desire. She's got some doubts in there, beliefs, reflected back to her by him, and they are clear. So she can work there, at the level of belief, and clear out any remaining energy that is not in alignment with the intention she has for a deep connection with her partner/spouse. Energy that is not aligned with the top of the stairs.

She only punched me once or twice throughout this Workout conversation. Not bad.

Leftovers

2009-10-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

With a number of different classes, individual sessions, and the radio show currently running, there are sometimes ideas or thoughts that don't get fully expressed which is why this blog is so handy! Herein, then, are a couple of "leftovers" from recent Spiritual Workout conversations I've been having:

When we talk about we are here for a reason and we're in a place we'd rather not be, the answer to why we're there is always growth and development on a soul level. When we have the courage to look in-depth at what that might be, we find what our challenge is and then it is our choice whether or not to do anything about it. I've been privileged to work with someone lately on loss who, up until now, has been resisting the entire notion of being alone in the wake of his partner's passing some six months ago. He accepted (be present) the "death" and other pieces of the puzzle, but had been strongly resisting being alone. Now, for probably the first time in his life, he chose to let go of his resistance to what is. I know this wasn't easy for him, but as we spoke about the opportunities in this experience for his own growth, how he could learn some new things about himself, how he could expand his idea of what "alone" even means, how he could ultimately find joy in facing up to this fear and, thus, purpose in this new phase of his life without his partner, he gave it a shot. He reported to me that, having done so, a shift occurred. He's definitely in a new place in his process. He's still playing with the whole idea - it's brand new. But most importantly his focus is now on life-affirming questions raised by this decision to accept being alone and not on the battery of thoughts that produce endless agony - resisting what is. Kudos to him.
Yesterday's radio show was also mostly about grief and loss. My own experience and book on the subject (which, perhaps needless to say, looks at grief and loss through the lens of the 15 concepts) combined with the work I've been privileged to do with many others, is leading me to move beyond "grief and loss" as the label for this process in favor of calling it, simply, a "change" process. For when we experience loss - be it people and relationships due to the death of the body or career or fortune or anything else - we are simply in a state of change. And for those of you who have attended classes at all, you know that change is one of the ways that Nature, the planet, manages itself. So to align with change and to offer it no resistance, is to practice the concept we belong to the planet, not the planet to us because when we mirror the nature of Nature, we align ourselves with well being itself, with Spirit. Loss enters our reality: something we had or enjoyed is no longer available to us. Grief is what follows when, bottom line, we resist in some way(s) the notion that we have lost what we've lost. So many of us get lost inside that resistance and never escape it. When we see it all simply as change and when we recognize that change is Life itself, the nature of Nature, we can explore the experience in ways that support us instead of ways that bring us - and perhaps keep us - down.

As always, I welcome your comments.

A Way to Work with Non-Serving Beliefs

2009-09-29T12:42:00.000-07:00

On yesterday's radio show, we got to see up close and personally what we talk about in class all the time: how a belief is a thought, how a thought is a thing, how everything is energy, how energy doesn't get created or destroyed it just changes form and, thus, non-serving beliefs can be changed into ones that serve.

The guest on the show, Regine Vavasseur, practices Theta Healing whereby she aligns with Source energy, connects to the vibration of whoever she's working with, and offers different vibrations - energetically - such that the person with the non-serving belief(s) moves to a place absent of the non-serving belief.

Honestly, there's a bit of "dead air" that occurs while she is working, but it's still worth a listen if you want to experience a way to work with non-serving beliefs. You will get to hear the process and, in the last segment, an explanation of what she did.

Follow this link and click on "Episode Listing/Monday, September 28." You can listen right now or download it for later:

http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1604

Happy listening.

Watch This!

2009-09-26T12:34:00.001-07:00

So in this morning's class, a single mom was talking about her history of growing up with two brothers and learning at an early age to be independent and strong and more "like a man." I can do it myself! and all that kind of stuff. So after a valiant attempt to move - by herself, on her own - a rather large and heavy armoire, she and it became stuck. It, because it was a bit taller than the doorway she was moving it through; she, because of her beliefs about what it meant to ask for help which she generally equated to showing weakness and not being independent and other non-serving thoughts, beliefs, like that.

I loved that she presented us with this scenario because we were able to re-frame all of it utilizing the concept we belong to the planet, not the planet to us. What?!, you ask. Just watch this: One of the ways that Nature, the planet, manages itself is that it thrives on a system of interdependence. When we look at the whole of Nature, biologists will confirm that nothing that is utterly dependent or utterly independent ever survives. ("No man is an island.") Thus, the reliance on others for certain things and the willingness to provide certain things to others is all part of a practicing interdependence which aligns us with the very nature of Nature, with well being, with Spirit, and all things great and wonderful.

From here, we can also see that everything is energy and that when we refuse to ask for help and when we refuse to accept help, we create energetic blocks to the flow of Nature. When we can change a belief about asking for help from "it means I'm weak" to "it means I'm aligned with Life itself," everything changes. (As is always the case when it come to what we believe.) And we can also see from here what it means that giving is receiving and receiving is giving again because it's all energy and by receiving we give another the opportunity to give for none of us can give without someone willing to receive. And on top of that, it can also get us into gratitude for obvious reasons.

All that from an armoire stuck in a doorway.

A Dance

2009-09-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

On Monday's radio show we touched on a dynamic that I wanted to expand upon a bit here. It has to do with those beautiful times when we find ourselves mired in the reality of what is happening now while, because the law of attraction is always on, stretching to put some effort and energy into a different reality we intend to experience as soon as we possibly can. The caller was dealing with financial abundance, the reality of her bank balance and reduced income, the thoughts and feelings that go with that, and the thoughts and feelings that go with the intended reality.

I was saying that in this space there is a bit of a dance we do. On the one hand, to be present is to accept whatever is happening as it is. So if we're feeling anxious or depressed or sad about our current reality, it's important to touch in to those feelings, to allow them, without judgment. That is what it means to be present. Yet when we are consciously engaging the law of attraction, when we are desiring to create a different reality that we will walk into sometime in the future, we also do that work in the present. Be it now; what is it like to be living in this new reality?; how does it feel? Law of attraction says we get what we think about and so we can easily feel stuck in this place thinking about what we have and don't want and striving to be clear about our intentions for what we do want.

But it's not impossible to get out of this place. When we let in the feelings we have about the decreased income and the thin reserves, we honor what is and from that place make choices about what to do next. So feel it all, let it in, let it be. And then as soon as you can, remember that you are not your history, your future is not dependent upon your past, and the present moment is the only time or place to create the future you desire.

So put on some music and dance.

Radio Show Info

2009-09-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

For anyone reading this blog unaware that there is now a Spiritual Workout radio show, below is the link to the "mini site" for the show on the 7th Wave Channel of the Voice America Internet Radio Network (phew!).

Yesterday was the second of 13 pilot programs that air weekly on Mondays from 10-11am, Pacific time. If you'd like to download either or both of the first two programs and listen at your leisure, they are archived under "Episode Listing" and I certainly welcome your comments as we explore this new venue for the work:

http://www.modavox.com/voiceamerica/vshow.aspx?sid=1604

Eventually they will also be available on iTunes.

This is a call-in show and I very much welcome - make that need - your live inquiries whenever you can make them. The toll-free number (also listed on the site) is 866-472-5795, but please only call this number when the show is airing live, Mondays from 10-11am Pacific time. As I am in full-on experimentation mode, the first show had four callers and the second only two. That gave us an opportunity to explore the work more in-depth and, again, I welcome any and all feedback you may have.

The radio show is a big step in the "expand the reach of the work" project of 2009! I continue to be indebted and grateful to anyone and everyone who has participated in anything Spiritual Workout-related during the past three years for without you, there would not be a Spiritual Workout nor an effort to expand its reach. One of the greatest benefits of the radio show is that your friends and family can listen from anywhere in the world so thank you for sharing news of it with them.

And thank you for continued opportunities to do this work.

P.S. I am actively seeking advertisers and sponsors for the show!

What Kind of Relationship Do You Want?

2009-09-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

I'm back after a bit of a hiatus during which the subject of relationships emerged a few times which is why I'm going to take it up here. For me, as I so often say, looking at relationships through the lens of the 15 concepts with which we work here is no different, really, than looking at anything else. But relationships - and I'm talking primarily here about the romantic variety - are so often rife with emotion and drama that they seem to be in a category all their own so here goes.

I was speaking with someone in particular who was distraught about how not well a particular relationship was going. His experience was showing him all kinds of things he didn't like about the relationship he'd pursued with a certain woman even though, "on paper" and in real actual life, she had so many wonderful characteristics. Yet ultimately, she wasn't fully present for him and he was having a bear of a time reconciling how she seemed to feel about him when they were together with the many ways in which she also seemed to disrespect him and leave him wanting far more than he was getting.

So I asked him, given that he wasn't in the kind of relationship he wanted to be in, what kind of relationship he wanted to be in. And he had a very difficult time answering that question. He kept putting it in the context of the quasi-relationship he was trying to have with this particular woman. Like I want to have the kind of relationship we have when it's all going great. When she is this and when she is that. I understood where he was coming from but still, persisted. Forget about her for a moment, I urged, and tell me in an ideal world where nobody can say no and money is no object, what is it like to be in your perfect relationship?

This wasn't easy for him at all. He struggled with forgetting about her for the moment and focusing on what it was he would want - ideally. And therein lies a big part of the problem. If our intention is unclear, if we cannot articulate what kind of relationship we want to have, we are likely to fall into the category of getting whatever it is we get and trying to mold it into something we want. The problem is, "getting whatever it is we get" is another actual human being and most of us have learned they aren't so easy to mold. And why else do we fall into the category of "getting whatever it is we get?" Because of the beliefs we have formed about what is possible and what is not.

The good news is that when we are faced with so much of what we don't want, it really does help to point us in the direction of what we do want. And when we can focus on that, everything starts to change. It's our responsibility to broadcast clearly to the Universe our true desires. Doing so will then put is in touch directly with beliefs we have about it all and that is perfect for if we discover that we have non-serving beliefs, we can work to transmute them into ones that do serve. And on and on it goes.

In the end, or rather in the beginning, we must believe that we can have whatever it is we want and in a world based on attraction and belief, we truly can be, do, or have whatever we desire. Yet if we do not believe this we will always be at the mercy of outside sources. So it starts with the question, What kind of relationship do you want? What is it like to be in it? How does it feel to be in it? When you can flush out the answers to these questions you will be well on your way to attracting it into your life.

As for the one who didn't quite fit the picture? When you can be about the business of creating what it is you like - using as a foil the one that wasn't quite it - you will be able to thank her for showing up, for showing you that which you did not want so that you could start creating that which you do want. Pretty cool when you think about it.

Strokes

2009-09-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure any of us - at least not in the circles I run around in - is immune in any way to the desire for validation, for praise, for strokes. When they come they are, indeed, a tonic - or at least they can be. And I haven't yet found a reason not to revel in and appreciate them when they come.

The problem is, do we need them? Are we doing what we are doing for the strokes? Is that our intention? If so, we are doing that thing that we have heard all our lives that we should not do: looking for praise from the outside. From outside ourselves. A recipe for disappointment and exhaustion - from all that chasing.

But there is another way. When we do what we do by means of being our authentic selves, when we are in service of our Souls and doing that which makes our hearts sing, we may or may not ever get any recognition or accolades or praise for it. But if we have acted in ways that are truly reflective of who we are, selflessly, in alignment with our highest Self, we will receive all the strokes and good feelings automatically, inherently, from within. We will listen to inspiration
and know that what we have done was spot-on, well done, perfect.

Then, when the strokes come from others, they will simply be icing on the cake.

Ah, Relationships

2009-08-25T12:07:00.000-07:00

OK, so you haven't been out there in a while but somehow you've met someone kind of special and you're all a-twitter. A-flitter? Whatever. The adrenaline is rushing and all sorts of other things are happening in your mind and your body. Yahoo! Before long, though, the mind starts to dominate with all sorts of comments and questions. This could be it! I think s/he is into me this much, too! My grandmother will even approve! Is s/he feeling the same way? I don't like that one thing s/he does, but there are so many other great qualities. I have no idea where this is going! I know where I want this to go! The sex is amazing!

Time out. (Oh go ahead; we can time out after the sex.) And now a time out for some intention setting. Oh, yeah. And the question is, What is your ideal relationship? That's really all you need to know. Again, in a perfect world where nobody can say no, what is your ideal relationship? What does it look like? And more, what does it feel like? What kinds of things are you doing? How's the sex? What's your communication like? How much trust do you feel? I could go on and on but it only matters what you want, what you intend.

When the intention is clear, you don't need to worry about whether or not the latest Mr./Ms. Wonderful fits it or not. S/he may, s/he may not. Who cares? And why do you have to decide today? When your intention is clear, it will also be clear whether or not this dynamo fits it. If so, party on. If not, party on. It's nothing personal. And besides, when you stop thinking about all of those future possibilities and potentials and what-ifs and other energy wasters, you can be present with this superstar, really be with him/her and also really be with yourself so you can listen to inspiration as it speaks to you about whether or not this being fits into your own desire.

And I'd say there are a couple of traps to avoid when venturing into the relationship world. The first is when you're not clear about what you want, you will start to build your desires around whoever shows up. I've seen enough unhappily single people in my career who have fallen into that one. Yuck. The second is that we don't even dare to dream; that we don't even believe that we can have a relationship the way we want it because of blah, blah, blah, it doesn't even matter why. Because of the law of attraction, nothing changes the fact that we cannot expect to ever have something for which we are not a vibrational match.

So make clear those relationship intentions free of compromise and full of confidence. Sure beats all that mind chatter.

Confusion

2009-08-20T11:48:00.001-07:00

It's possible that a state of confusion can emerge for any number of reasons, but what I typically see is that confusion is the result of conflicting intentions which are not always so obvious.

Whenever we're caught up in not being sure what choice to make, it's usually because we have a particular goal or desire or intention, (thank you very much) and then a whole bunch of stuff that clouds up the desire in the form ideas/thoughts/beliefs about why our desire can't happen or how it can get derailed or anything like that. When we allow it, the desire (intention) will feel good (listen to inspiration). The cloud of thoughts that don't line up with our desire will probably make sense, be practical, align with what we've been taught and with what a lot of others have been taught, and not feel good. All of which adds up to confusion.

So the way out is simple, conceptually, like everything, yes?, and perhaps a bit more challenging in real life. But the Spiritual Workout, fortunately enough, is about making this simplicity happen in real life so here we go. If you're feeling confused, give yourself enough time and space to re-acquaint yourself with your desire, your goal, your intention. Feel it, be in it. This is where you imagine it as it is in a world where nobody can say no and money's no object. Now you are engaging the law of attraction in a conscious manner. Put that good feeling out there knowing you will only get more and more of it the more you do it. And now look into that cloud swirling around this bliss full of all the reasons why this can't happen, all the questions about how it's going to happen, all the fears about who will say what to whom about you if it happens, and all manner of other cloudy, confusion-inducing thoughts. What is it you want? What is it you want? If you want it but are having issues believing it can happen, then spend time in this juicy place working through all the beliefs you have that are not aligned with your desire. That will get you closer to it, of course.

And realize that inside what you are calling confusion is probably nothing more than a combination of a desire for something combined with reasons why it can't happen. This isn't confusion as much as it is fear/ego/beliefs attempting to rob you of your desire. Then you're at a choice point: will you choose your desire or will you choose your fear? The conflicting intentions
that got you here are 1) your initial goal/desire and 2) your most likely unconscious intention to stay safe, maintain the status quo, avoid taking responsibility or something else equally unappealing. Making that unconscious intention conscious makes it easier to choose which makes the confusion dissipate.

I know.

Choices Abound

2009-08-10T14:18:00.001-07:00

After a two-month hiatus, the Spiritual Workout monthly drop-in class in Idyllwild bounded back on Saturday morning (8/08) with several new people and a brand new location! Also new, for me anyway, the one human on the planet who has attended each and every Spiritual Workout, was the content. I mean, it's always different because it comes from material you bring in, but Saturday was interesting because of a collective desire to talk about how choices abound. I can't remember a time when that particular concept was so focused on and it gave me an opportunity to talk about some of the directions to which that concept stretches.

Of course, the concept is choices abound which means they are everywhere, ubiquitous. We are always making them all day every day and so often it's without a whole lot of conscious awareness. Yet for those of us who truly practice this concept, we know that we don't ever get to say I had no choice. We always have a choice and what's so fun about this idea and so very important, is what our choices tell us about ourselves and what we value. The answers are not always so immediate for they run deep, but I like to ask the questions anyway. Or especially! So some who had chosen to attend the class that morning - instead of lying in bed or having breakfast with the family or any number of other options - when asked, could get in touch with, for example, a desire for personal growth or to be uplifted to name a couple. But I always like to go farther with that, too. Like What does it tell you about yourself that you are choosing personal growth? To be uplifted? I don't necessarily expect an answer right away because this inquiry gets to things that tend to run fairly low beneath the surface. But, like I said, it was exciting to have the chance to underscore how very exciting it can be on our individual and collective roads to self-discovery, to look closely at what our choices say about who we are.

We also got to see how, of course, choices overlap with intentions, to see the interplay between the two as in What over-arching intention does that choice you made serve? And also to talk about what even makes choices abound a spiritual concept in the first place. I always like to think of it as saying to All That Is, from which a constant flow of Source Energy flows to and through us every moment of every day we receive breath, this is what I will do with that lifeforce now. And this is what I'll do with it now. And this is what I'll do with it now. Every moment of every day we are fresh and new and it is with our choices (and intentions) that we give shape to that energy.

So that was my take on last Saturday's class. Thanks to all who were there and, remember, we'll be going twice a month in September, October, and November!

It's All About You!

2009-08-05T11:34:00.001-07:00

A while back I heard the expression, "there's nobody else out there." It was in response to something I'd said at a gathering of seekers on a topic I no longer recall. I hadn't heard it before, but I certainly understood the concept.

It comes up in relationships all the time. I can't tell you how many times couples talk to me about how awful, how annoying, how selfish, how, how, how the other is being. I've certainly had my share of living in that space, too. But it really is true that from the perspective of a spiritual being, here in a physical body on planet Earth for the purpose of growth on a soul level, every single thing that happens in relationship happens for you. Every annoyance. Every betrayal. All of it.

Within the frame of the 15 concepts, we can look in several directions starting with the law of attraction. Here we see that everything is a reflection of our vibration and that something we are being or doing is vibrating right where the other is. Ouch, I know. We can also look at we are here for a reason, accepting that it is not an accident that you are experiencing what you are experiencing. And we can look at take responsibility for the moment we stop blaming the other for how we are feeling or what we are experiencing, everything changes.

I have seen this happen countless times. When the light bulb lights up and the "aha" emerges, the energy changes and every single time the person will say the feel better, lighter. Listen to inspiration. Of course, all s/he did was change a thought or two about the situation which falls under an old favorite, beliefs matter.

So is there trouble in your paradise? Not when you remember that there's nobody else out there, that it's all about you, and you choose to go at it from that place. You will definitely feel better.

Getting Hurt vs. Not Getting Hurt

2009-07-19T07:02:00.001-07:00

Say a person has an intention for a new relationship. And say that person meets someone new and feels excited about the possibilities. From this emotional high - a key ingredient of the initial intention - said person shares enthusiasm with friend and all falls flat. Dead. Friend is not happy, not enthusiastic. "I just don't want you to get hurt." Experience is virtually repeated with a different friend (person begins to re-think friendships, but that's another story).

This is actually happening in my world with a few different people on my radar screen right now. That says to me it wants to be discussed so away we go. I'll start by saying that I am not in the fear of getting hurt camp. What is that anyway? Just what it always is, actually, a belief or set of beliefs about love and relationships that sound something like love is risky; love can be ripped away; love is in very limited supply; people will disappoint you. If your own beliefs are in this realm then you will not trust new possibilities or allow yourself to explore them. You will be entering from a place of fear which is like taking a wet blanket on your date and covering yourselves in it when you say hello.

This whole way of thinking and experiencing disappears when one's intentions are crystal clear. For example, I intend a relationship that is dynamic and fun and loving. There is ample room to grow - individually and as a couple - and I am free to be myself. I feel loved and secure. When the intentions are clear, we see who shows up and can then "measure" how we feel being with who has shown up against our intentions. So if after a few dates with someone new there is a sense, staying with the same example, that one is not being appreciated for who s/he is, is not feeling as though s/he can be her/his self, then it is clear that that the new person doesn't help fulfill the intentions that the original person has and the dating ends. Does that mean hurt? Why should it? It will only be experienced as hurt if there is some attachment to the brand new person before there is time to figure out whether or not that person lines up with the intentions.

But there is, of course, another step. With clear intentions, we then need to take stock of the beliefs we have about seeking or, more to the point, attracting love and relationship to our life experience. Someone with intentions like the ones offered above must have beliefs that are more in the realm of love is all around; I cannot fail to find the relationship I am intending for myself; I will know when I've found the right person. So being armed with clear relationship intentions buttressed by a set of beliefs that support it, means exploring relationships can be opportunities for fun and frolic instead of fear and dread.

And I'm sure you see how this is no different than choosing to attract anything else into our experiences. It's just an area where we tend to get a bit tripped up.

A Friendly Reminder

2009-07-08T01:36:00.000-07:00

By now most of us have learned the whole idea that when we are in judgment - i.e., making a damning judgment about another as in he's this or she's that - we are really only seeing something in them that exists in us and that we are not so ready to accept. It's a gigantic step in the direction of taking responsibility and I'm amazed, sometimes, how many people truly understand this.

Yet there's another aspect to all of it which really is about the law of attraction which extends to the notion that that which we see in the world is a reflection of who we are. I've often called that the 16th concept. What I'm getting at is that if we are so good at acknowledging that unflattering characteristics we see in others exist and live in ourselves, we must be equally good at acknowledging that flattering characteristics we see in others and beauty we see in all forms in our daily existences are also reflections of us. Just as we could not see arrogance in another if we were not arrogant ourselves, we could not see confidence or success or leadership or, or, or in another without being confident or successful or a leader ourselves. Somewhere inside. We could not recognize the beauty of a tree or the sky or the ocean without being beautiful ourselves. Somewhere inside.

If we can see it in the world it exists in us. So let's just remember that taking responsibility isn't always such a chore.

Announcement!

2009-06-30T05:23:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that an Internet radio show, essentially the Spiritual Workout on the air, has been in the works for a while and after a conversation yesterday with my executive producer (Do you love the sound of that as much as I do?) we locked down our time slot! So the show will debut on Monday, September 14, and will air live at 10:00am, Pacific time that day and every Monday through December 7 after which the “pilot series” will have been completed. (More than seventy percent of hosts who complete a 13-week pilot series go on to sign annual contracts so let’s hold that vision, shall we?!)

Anyway, this slot is really quite good as it hits prime working hours in all U.S. time zones – the online equivalent of “drive time” on your car’s radio dial. Re-broadcasts the same day will be at 10:00pm Pacific time and each show will be archived and available on iTunes. So basically, anyone anywhere in the world with an Internet connection will be able to listen in – live or at a more convenient time.

As I said, the call-in show will essentially be the Spiritual Workout on the air and I’m humbled by and grateful to all of you who have given of yourselves financially to support this expansion of our work. There’s still a ways to go, however, so if you are at all able and inclined to contribute to this project in any amount, please follow this link and just scroll down to the “Donate” buttons.

What Shall We Call It?

Initially, I’d been inclined to call the show Spiritually Responsible Living with Steven Morrison to align with the umbrella under which all of my work is tending to fit – as on my new web site which you can check out right here. Then, after about a seven- or eight-month process and more than a few dollars, I learned that I can, in fact, trademark “Spiritual Workout” and the logo! So now I’m inclined to go with something like (The) Spiritual Workout – On the Air, building upon almost three years of having “Spiritual Workout” out there. I welcome your preferences and opinions - just click on “Comments” below.

That’s it for today, folks. Far more to come, no doubt.

A Personal Process

2009-06-26T05:27:00.000-07:00

Those of you who attend my classes with any regularity know that every once in a while, I show you that I work these concepts myself, too, all the time. And here's one of those examples.

Last night here in London where I'm privileged to be staying for a few weeks, I attended a Sharing Group where I sat for two-and-a-half hours with ten others who, as far as I knew, were spiritual seekers like myself. I had spoken to one of the organizers on the phone about it and told him it sounded similar to what I do and I was curious and intrigued. He told me that new people attend most every week (just like at the Spiritual Workout drop-in class!) and invited me to join in on what he said has been a weekly experience for seven or eight years. My intentions for going included connecting with like-minded beings, very much about seeing what I might learn from others engaged in spiritual pursuits, and contributing if there was something for me to contribute. As I approached the meeting - held in a private home - I also made sure I clarified for myself my intentions to be present and to be myself.

As we began, seated in a circle on the floor, the host told me that we sit and wait for something to happen and the next thirty minutes were completely silent before someone began talking. Ever the observer, I still was unsure about the whole process (What do we do? How does it work?) and was definitely struggling with judgments about "their" way of doing things vs. "my" way of doing things, but also coming back to and spending most of my time in present moment, grateful to have this opportunity and still eager to see where it was all going. About an hour-and-a-half in, I began to get the idea that a big part of it was to challenge people to share (it's called a Sharing Group after all) whatever's going on for them in the moment, in this case someone's own personal judgments about people. Tell us what judgments you have about us and what started running in my head was, Is this really necessary? I was, at this point, able to compare processes a bit and so it was starting to get interesting. In my mind, I was thinking about my knowing that judgments we make about others are only and ever all about us, so what was the value of anyone sharing his/her judgments about others, to their faces? And really and truly, I was very much hanging with their process to find the value for myself because, Lord knows, I don't want to miss anything!

Before I knew it, the focus had turned to me, lo and behold, and it became clear that I was being asked - invited - to share my own judgments, ostensibly about other people. I attempted to describe my process of sitting there, coming back to presence, and seeing myself in each of them and the group as a whole as fellow seekers and all that. No dice. Too much in my head. What was my resistance? OK, then, I said, I guess I have a bit of an issue with - and I pointed someone out. I shared my experience of him when I had arrived, a bit earlier than most, and was feeling very uncomfortable, chest tightening, because I felt a bit like I was performing something that didn't matter - and said so. I don't need to like or feel connected to every single human and all that stuff and nothing I was feeling was all that important to me. But did I want to open space to have a connection with this other? Sure. I'm certainly open to that, and then the conversation went elsewhere. Not long before wrap-up time, though, I volunteered a bit more.

I'm seeing the mirror in you now, I said. And I went on to describe that he and I are the same because he is the questioner, the "challenger," and that's the role I play, too. But the difference, for me, right now, I was saying, is that when I question people I'm quite clear about my intentions and I believe the people I'm questioning are, too. I see you as the challenger, I was saying to him, but not knowing you, not having been here before, not having been told much of anything about the process of this group, I don't know your intentions so there is the resistance you are probably experiencing in me. I said, you can call a thing safe, but that doesn't make it so. I'm not feeling safe and I'm not saying that's a permanent condition, just the way it is right now. When he responded to me, he was complimentary about my personality and demeanor, acknowledged what I'd said, reiterated that his intention was for truth, and I experienced him as practically a different person in that exchange. A connection was felt - on my part - and a shift in energy, for sure.

The group closed up and that's when my process really began, walking to the subway (tube). First question for myself, What's my deal? Am I really resistant to opening up to people? They certainly thought so, definitely, but that's not my experience of myself so much. And because I do what I do, I'm rarely challenged by anyone to open up myself. So I kicked that around, there wasn't really too much energy around it, but after assuming for a while that it was true, just to see, it did lead me to two places. First, I uncovered a belief I had that goes something like this: If I show my vulnerability in public, I can't be the spirituality teacher guy. Brilliant! I know that's not true and certainly non-serving; if anything, it probably helps that I do (thus this lengthy post and that book I wrote) so I was able to re-establish a belief that goes something like, my best work occurs when I show myself to others. Not new, but a good reminder.

Walking from the train and once home, my process really mushroomed. I was still feeling tightness in my chest so first off, mind and body are connected, I did some physical movement to specifically open my heart space. And I invoked green, the color associated with the heart chakra, what the heck? And I thought about the issues often connected to the heart chakra - love and hate, resentments, trust - bingo, that again! No doubt, that button had been pushed so I got the opportunity to review my beliefs about trust and re-establish one that goes something like, I am always safe. I really do believe that and if I'd had that belief front-and-center, my evening may have been different. But I have ingrained thoughts/ideas/experiences about all that - just like everyone else! - so the re-calibration was quite helpful.

Earlier in the evening, I'd been invited to share the personal judgments I'd had about specific individuals and I did about that one guy. But now I was realizing that my judgments really had very little to do with any specific people, they all felt quite nice to me, actually. But I definitely was having judgments about the process, their process, even though I'd really tried not to. Really hard. Because I was truly hoping to go and be exposed to something new, something I hadn't seen before, something I could learn and integrate into my experience. And I was realizing that another piece of my holding back was my unwillingness to go in with any kind of an I've got a better way mentality. I'm pretty much just not that guy and would simply not return if I didn't find value in it. So I was beginning to see that, had I been able to articulate that earlier, that my judgments were really about their process, I would have gone OFF at their urging about having a better way. Or, really, a different way (that happens to be better for me given who I am, what I know, and my own intentions).

So I got a great deal out of that experience last night. I got to re-calibrate myself to more serving beliefs about being vulnerable in front of fellow seekers and about knowing that I am always supported and can always trust. And beyond that, the whole thing, ultimately, was like a sharpening of sorts, using resistance as an impetus for growth. So they were right, I was resisting. But I wasn't resisting what they thought I was and, therefore, my whole process occurred after the group.

Perhaps I'll share that next time.

"Extreme" Presence

2009-06-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

I heard it a couple of weeks ago from someone in the Living Through Loss group I facilitated recently and it's still resonating with me so I share it with you here, now. She was asking about something a friend of hers had said to her when she ran into him and saw that his formerly very long hair was now quite short - a very distinct difference from how she had known him for a long time. When she asked him if he missed his hair, he simply looked at her and said, "How can I miss something I don't have?" She was struggling a bit with this reply, she said, adding that she just "couldn't wrap her head around it."

I smiled, recognizing an example of pure and, by most of our standards, "extreme" presence. Here I am in this present moment, without the hair I used to have. What hair are you talking about?

It certainly is an example that points to our willingness to be unattached to anything, to know in our hearts that we are new in every moment, and to embrace all we do have in any given present moment with gratitude.

I'm not quite there yet myself, as evidenced by "disappointment" I experienced when my internet connection went dead in the midst of some work I was doing yesterday. But I can certainly wrap my head around the concept.

Anxiety

2009-06-01T23:07:00.001-07:00

Did that get your attention?!

You know, I think it's time we stop using the word anxiety. I mean, when you saw it in the headline, What did you think? How did you feel? What are you expecting will be said here about anxiety? What might you be hoping to see?

Lately I've been using the language of old and new paradigms and anxiety is so old paradigm. That's because its been glorified and disease-ified and medicated and misunderstood. We've been taught to stamp it out yet with all the attention we put on it, of course it pervades us and gets worse. Enough already!

For the overwhelming majority of us, anxiety is nothing more than living the future in the present. That's it. What if this? What if that? What if? What if? What if? And so bottom line, from a spiritually responsible perspective, anxiety makes zero sense. It's a spiritual violation, if you will, because it is necessarily based outside of the present moment. So if anxiety is something that plagues you - and you want to be spiritually responsible and you want to not be anxious - then concentrate on living in the present and ask yourself what it is about living in the present that you may not be wanting to deal with. If there's something there - perhaps right or somewhat or extremely far below the surface - for which the anxiety is an, excuse me, excuse to not to deal with or accept or be present with what's in your present moment, well then perhaps you can start with simply knowing that.

Thanks to today's teleclass and tonight's weekly class for bringing this topic up and creating what became the Spiritual Workout theme for the day. As it turned out.

Old Paradigm = Anxiety

New Paradigm = A Presence Lapse

So the next time you're feeling anxiety, see it as a lapse in being present. I'd love to know what, if anything, that might do for you.

A Question to Ponder

2009-05-24T09:08:00.000-07:00

What is your intention for your life?

Or alternatively, what are your intentions for your life?

No need to divulge them here if you'd rather not, but please offer what comes up for you when you consider this question. We'll keep the dialogue going.

P E A C E ,

Steven

The Freakin' Economy!

2009-05-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, but if I hear one more reference to "the economy" or "this economy" or anything like it I'm not going to be able to stop myself from launching into a nationwide screed about the law of attraction and how we get what we think about. The outrageously wonderful news about "this economy" is that what is rising up in us - individually and collectively - is a clear picture of how we would really like it to be: thriving; job-producing; income-generating. Stuff like that. There are all kinds of people in all kinds of businesses making boatloads of money right here, right now, in "this economy." But how much of our energy and attention are placed on any of that?

We see how it is, the "reality" of it all and to accept it simply as it is, without judgment, is to be present to it. A necessary step and I think we're all pretty much there. Yet the GARGANTUAN OPPORTUNITY we are missing is to use what it is we don't want to remind us of what it is we do want and to put our attention on that. You know how it is, here and now, today, but how do you want it to be? Define it, describe it, feel it, and call it an intention. "My economy is thriving." "My income increases exponentially." "I buy what I want when I want it." "I share my wealth with others." If your desires are in this neighborhood and you are not spending any time articulating them, feeling them, and, yes, believing that they're possible, you are part of the problem. What's that I say? You are part of the problem.

And, of course, this goes for anything you are saying that you are wanting and this is pure Abraham-Hicks and many other sources of law of attraction teaching. We get what we think about. So if you want an unhealthy economy fully of problems that affect you and everyone you know, keep lamenting about "the economy." But if you want something different and better it is your/our responsibility to put focus, attention, and energy on the different and better. I'd say you heard it here first but I'm quite sure that's not true.

Thanks. I feel better.

Creating In Someone Else's Reality

2009-04-21T15:30:00.001-07:00

Most every spiritual teaching - at least new age teachings - will talk about how powerful we are as human beings; how we can harness the divinity within us to create anything we wish to be, do, or have. Yet for all that power there is something we definitely cannot do and that is create in someone else's reality. If you've tried or are trying this, I'm sure you'll agree.

When we want something for someone that they may - or, quite often, may not - want for themselves, there isn't really much more we can do, I don't think, than hope to inspire them or, depending on the relationship, maybe even nudge and cajole a bit. We may see so clearly how if the other would simply choose this or that, his/her life would improve exponentially, right?! Yet if we "attach ourself to a particular outcome," if part of our bliss depends upon whether or not they do what we think they should do, we will feel off kilter because the Truth is, we cannot create in their reality. Rather, by allowing the other to have his/her own experience, even when that experience may mean a whole world of hurt, we are practicing a level of compassion which recognizes that just we are here for a reason, on purpose for a purpose, so is the other person we're caring so much about. And most of us have enough difficulty figuring out our own purposes let alone someone else's. So to allow the others to have their experiences is to acknowledge that they're on their own journeys and if our efforts to assist them are resisted, its in our best spiritually responsible interest to rest knowing we have done our parts and not continually bump our heads against the others' walls of resistance. Even if what happens next is that we witness a nasty train wreck.

There are so many directions this discussion could take and, of course, I welcome your comments and questions. But primarily, what lies beneath all this are beliefs: I can create in someone else's reality or I can't create in someone else's reality; I'm responsible for how others receive what I offer or I'm not responsible for how others receive what I offer. Often times the best way to inspire someone to do or have or be something is to do or have or be that thing yourself. Wholly and completely. Embody it. Show how good it is. For it is also rather likely that what you're wanting for the other is something you're wanting for yourself. Maybe?

Teleclass

2009-04-21T11:13:00.001-07:00

From my perspective, the new teleclass is as legitimate a form of the Spiritual Workout as any of the other versions. What's interesting is working with people I never knew before and know nothing about. But we gather there, like at any Spiritual Workout, to apply these concepts to our day-to-day lives and for anyone who may be wondering, it works! This is from an email someone sent me the other day about last week's class:

"Little shifts in my thinking were evident almost instantly and it simply amazes me. Subtle little changes have been going on in my thinking and acting that I attribute to the class. WOW! I have felt great...Could it be that one hour on the phone with you can make such a difference?"

Of course, that's one person's experience and, like with anything, everyone will have his/her own. But it shows that the intent for the class, that it can reach people who happen not to live in Idyllwild and help them to gain new perspectives on their lives is being fulfilled. And I felt compelled to share that, publicly, for any teleclass skeptics among us. Is it the same as being in class in person? Of course not. Can it be effective? Apparently.

I thank you all again for giving me more and more opportunities to practice this work.

Judging Without Being Judgmental

2009-04-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

So it's clear to me that the concept most vulnerable to issues of semantics is judgments separate us. And thanks to "K" from the Idyllwild class for bringing this to my attention - the most recent of about a zillion times it has come up.

I'm not a brain scientist but somewhere along the line I picked up the idea that if we did not have the ability to discern, to categorize, to judge then we would do whatever the equivalent of short-circuiting is because of all the information we take in all day every day that we are walking around and breathing. This makes sense to me. Red light hanging over an intersection = Stop! Red light hanging over a doorway in certain parts of town, well, that might mean something else entirely. Reading the labels of the food we eat; deciding where to go on vacation; which college to attend? We are constantly evaluating, discerning, categorizing, judging. This won't be good for my diabetes; if we go here, we won't be able to go snorkeling; these are good schools, but I didn't get my first choice. And on and on and on.

When it comes to people, that's where it gets interesting. She's pretty. There's a judgment. Is it hurting anyone? Probably not. Is it separating you from her? Kind of, technically. Because you're really just relating to "pretty" but, again, I think we're an eon or so away from needing to eliminate that kind of judgment. Where we get into trouble is when we are putting a "damning" type of judgment on someone as in, He's a pig (no offense to pigs). If he's a guy walking down the street who you don't know, the name-calling or judging is all about you anyway and probably won't harm him in any real way - the harm is done to you as you cut off compassion in favor of name-calling. Plus karma. Your choice. But if he's your brother and you're having a conflict, then you will see clearly, if you look, that your calling him a pig, while potentially quite accurate from your perspective, is a "damning" judgment that not only separates you from him (because now you're just in Pigville thinking about how much you apparently don't like pigs), but blocks the compassion that will be necessary for reconciliation.

And then there is when we notice that someone has a number of qualities we don't like, but they're not leaving our lives any time soon and we're going to have to deal with them in one way or another. So we definitely have some judgments we're harboring about them even though we are intending to be spiritually responsible and not judgmental. In these situations, it seems helpful to draw in another word and that is preference. I see this, I don't like it so much, it doesn't work for me, I prefer something else, so off I go (even if only in my mind) as I bless this person for being exactly who s/he is. (This works, of course, when there is no threat of physical or emotional danger.) So we can acknowledge our judgments of the other, we can categorize their behaviors and actions and discern that they do not align with who we are, and express our preference for something else.

Semantics? You decide.

Choices Abound

2009-04-10T15:28:00.000-07:00

I'm driven to say something now about choices abound because in the last two days or so I've heard or read about several people saying "I had no choice." Oy! When I think back to why choices abound became one of the concepts I culled out for this work, I remember very clearly a chapter in Gary Zukav's Seat of the Soul titled, oddly enough, "Choice." The first sentences are: "The center of the evolutionary process is choice. It is the engine of our evolution." For me, that was circa 1999 and it stuck like glue. And earlier today I was reading something more current, of a spiritual nature and that I can't seem to find right now, sorry, that was also making clear that our choices shape our experiences.

I guess it's because I've worked with this concept for as long as I have that I almost literally cringe when I hear someone say "I had no choice." It reminds me of working as a psychotherapy intern with someone who was mandated to show up for counseling as part of a sentence handed down to him in criminal court. (Interns always get the best jobs.) He would sit there and say he had no choice about being there and was only there because the court had mandated it. I was eager for him to engage and he was adamant about not engaging. He was content to come, sit for an hour, and leave. In fact, it was his choice, yuk yuk. Slowly but surely, though, I challenged him on his stance. I told him that he could be doing any number of other things during this hour but that his choice was to be here, for the hour, to get whatever credit he needed to get. "What else would you rather be doing right now?" "Oh about a million things." "Then why aren't you doing any of them?" "Because I need to be here to get this out of the way." "Why? If you hate the idea of it so much, why come at all? Who cares if you don't get your paper signed?" "I do." "Oh really? [I was in.] And why is that?" "What do you mean?" "Why do you care about getting your paper signed?" "So I can..."

And there it all was. What he ultimately saw was that his choice to follow the rules this time around was a valuable piece of information for him about himself. And that's one of the incredible things about choices - what they show us about ourselves and what it is we value. This guy learned that in spite of his past, he valued something different for his future. He was already making different choices even as he insisted that he didn't have one. And what that showed him about himself shifted his entire persona and the energy he put out and the expression on his face. When he took responsibility for the choice he was actually making, everything changed.

Hawaii or the Carribbean? New car or used car? Groceries or electric bill? Everything is a choice and we choose over and over again and again every single day. What are your choices telling you about yourself?

Effortlessness

2009-04-05T21:32:00.000-07:00

I am working on a fun, new, rather large project these days, which is right in line with everything else I'm doing and about which I'm very excited. (I will be sharing news of it soon.) And yet last week I was experiencing, as I was working on it, a tremendous amount of clogged up works - much of which revealed itself when a friend made certain suggestions that I couldn't seem to not resist. It just wasn't flowing the way I thought it should and then, there it was: a reminder that I'd already covered this with an intention I'd set a long time ago that "my life works and it works easily." And some time after that I translated or evolved that intention into one for my work and that is, "my efforts are effortless." In other words, I willingly put forth effort - time, energy, doing the doing - and then the effort is actually quite effortless. It doesn't feel like "work." This is truly how I feel when I am teaching a class or working privately with a client or writing a book or whatever. It takes effort, yes, but it feels effortless. This is my preferred way to go, my intention.

So when I was not experiencing the effortlessness I had chosen for myself, I re-aligned with that choice, that intention, and sat back for a moment. Then I listened to inspiration. In short order, a new way forward presented itself, it happened to be pretty much exactly what my friend had been suggesting and which I'd been resisting, and the effortlessness returned.

And what's happening in your world?

I'm Not Who I Just Was

2009-03-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

Part of the fun of working with these concepts all the time is seeing the ways in which they stretch and conform to myriad different situations. Lately I have been hearing myself say, "I'm not who I just was." I'm not who I just was. That's because when we know that everything only and ever happens in the present, it's irrelevant that you just freaked out at work or had a fight with your girlfriend or chose to blow off that pile of work in favor of the couch, tv, a bag of Doritos, and a six-pack of beer. Who cares? All that matters is who are you now in the present moment? And what about now? And what about now?

The truth is that because everything only and ever happens in the present and because we are always offering one vibration or another, we can choose and re-choose who we are being every moment of every day. In fact, we are always making such choices so the only question is whether or not we're choosing consciously. And then a likely part of this process will be to exercise compassion for self by giving up any and all judgments we may have about having snarfed all the Doritos and downed all the beer. It's all just a really big So What?

Because all that matters is who you choose to be now. Yes?

Monday, Monday

2009-03-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

So with the addition of the teleclass plus a couple of private sessions, my Monday has been full of Spiritual Workout and that's why I'm so energized right now. I so love doing this work, I am really excited about putting it into different forms, and none of it would be possible without people to present it to so thanks and thanks to all of you who have participated and are participating in one form or another of this work. And, trust me, there's more to come.

Today's big concept was intentions matter and I had the privilege of working with people who are creating big new things, revising things that are, and contemplating what they might want to be, do, or have. In the weekly class here in Idyllwild tonight, we practiced setting intentions of various length: for the duration of the class, for the week, and for the month. This was actually our warm-up tonight and I thought it was valuable to feel the difference between types of intentions because, bottom-line, they come in all shapes and sizes. And when we're talking intentions we are also talking beliefs and thus the opportunity for me to pontificate about my favorite new way of eliminating non-serving ones from our experiences. (I've got me some energy, but not enough to explain that in a blog post!)

And just because its fun for me to think about, the teleclass has now had participants from three different states, today having welcomed someone from New York City to the fold. So thanks again, everyone, for making it possible for me to have the best job in the world.

Conscious Movement Bridged with Conscious Mind, Creates Collective Change!

2009-03-22T19:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings all! This is Trine! Steven and I just finished sharing our fourth Mind Body Experience class and I am, once again, ignited! First, I want to share what a pleasure it is to work with you Steven, true relationships nurture growth, allow for change, and embrace individuality. You are a confidant, a comrade, and a courageous soul dedicated to exploring the Unknown! First within self and then sharing what you find. Evolution at its best!!!

Consciously combining the elements of our present understanding concerning mind and body are imperative for our growth as humans on the planet at this time. Bridging the mind and body through awareness and trust is a priority for anyone that "finds themselves" on a spiritual path. The body is a tether to the present moment, it alone is fully Here and Now, it is a portal to presence. Active mind is a perception formed from past and future based identity, and has for too long run human existence.

In this class Steven and I drop the mind directly into the fibers of the form, and the results are resonant and real! This class offers the true and tangible transmutation of stress, limitation, and dis-ease, all exposed as inaccurate perceptions of self. Utilizing the 15 principles of the Spiritual Workout and various alignments of Morphic Yoga gives a unique experience of actually moving energy that is embedded in muscle fiber and cell memory, out of the body, while being fully conscious to the process. East truly does meet West in this class and the synthesis is sublime. Stagnation is represented as dis-ease. Limiting belief patterns manifest as limitation in the body. Steven and I tag team in a yin-yang kind of way. I learn so very much each and every time we actualize this class.

Reawakening the power of Focused Attention, Kinesthetic Sense, and Internal Intention serve as tools to truly export toxins out of the body, making space to import the awareness of the present moment, pure potential to BE who we really are free of restrictions, resistance, or limitations of any kind. Effortlessly transporting the self into transformation.

This is a quality of humanity worth mentally envisioning! Embodying our true nature in joy, ease, and only through our own conscious choice. Collective change always begins with the conscious individual. In this class we offer a synthesis of systems: the power of human thought unified with the wisdom inherent in every cell. Steven and I assist in peeling back the layers of illusion and distortion to expose humanities natural Essence of Grace, which is expressed as Health Embodied within Human Form.

Come check us out!

Another Way to Look for Non-Serving Beliefs

2009-03-18T08:25:00.000-07:00

In response to Kristin, (see Comments after my last post), I think she's got the right idea with the "focus on just...one...tree..." thing. Like we were talking about the other night in class: being present is, spiritually speaking, always the "right thing" yet it challenges beliefs we have about how we are supposed to be. For my money, though, that's precisely where an opportunity for real work shows up - at the level of belief.

Feeling "overwhelmed," as Kristin talked about, by the prospect that "hundreds of areas of in my life need to be approached with the 15 principles" is certainly understandable for anyone relatively new to this work. And yet as soon as we use language like "need to be" we start dancing with our belief systems (joyously if we so choose!) at least if our intention is to clear out non-serving beliefs. So an intention to be present shines a light on a series of beliefs we have about our abilities to be present which is fantastic because our desire to practice presence more of the time on more days than usual will be greatly increased by transmuting any and all non-serving that may be preventing the very practice of presence we may be intending. Phew!

And, if I may, one more thing in response to the "hundreds of areas in my life" thing. In essence, yes, we eventually learn to see that hundreds of areas in our lives could benefit from being approached with the 15 concepts. No doubt about it. But the way I look at it is that the concepts become a lens through which you will see the hundreds of things. It will become more and more natural the more you get used to looking through the lens. In this way, I think it's far less daunting because there will be nothing you have to do in order to approach all those things - you will simply begin to see them in different ways. Naturally. Yes? I hope this helps.

A Burst of Spiritual Workout Activity

2009-03-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well its been a busy few days for the Spiritual Workout. Saturday morning was the flagship drop-in class, Sunday evening was the mind-body spinoff class and yesterday was the very first teleclass. And oh yeah, last evening was the first class of six-week weekly Monday night session here in Idyllwild.

I have to say, the teleclass was really exciting. On the listen to inspiration front, I was completely jazzed. Excited, energized, and thrilled to see that my intention, even in this embryonic stage, is being realized. Specifically, to attract people from other parts of the country who either know/are related to "Spiritual Workout people" here in Idyllwild or they used to be one and now live somewhere else. And what do you know? We had one of each for the first class! From Nebraska and Arizona! It was really fun to do this work with someone I'd never met or seen because in the absence of that, there's feeling, really feeling how we are all connected and coming together, if you will, with our common desire to live spiritually responsible lives. Another intention of the teleclass is to continue to put the work into whatever form it will take and I think this form will be a real boon. So thanks to both people who participated yesterday - and thanks also to the people who shared the news of the class - and here's to more and more of all that.

Last night's weekly class here in Idyllwild was also really fun for me. This class is limited to twelve people for the six weeks and participants make a commitment to pay for the class - whether they show up or not. So for the most part, it's usually a pretty full room. Last night we saw, in several different ways (and among other things) how for many of us, steeped in our culture's worship of the multi-tasking gods, we run up against entrenched beliefs in our quests to be present. Stuff like, Well if I pay attention here, if I'm present here, then I'll miss something over there. Happens all the time. Yet to be present is to be present regardless of whatever else is going on around us. Hard to do, oftentimes, when we have a belief that says I have to be responsible for all of it or I'm failing if I miss something there while I'm being present here. So layering on we are here for a reason which stretches to there are no accidents which stretches to I'm never in the wrong place can help a great deal.

But that's just my take. Getting this blog launched is another part of the Spiritual Workout recent burst of activity and I welcome your comments about any of it at any time. That goes for questions that come up in between classes which you can post in the comments section below - regardless of whether or not they match a particular rant of mine. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with you here in cyberspace.

What's with That Mind-Body Class?

2009-03-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Greetings beings,

This new blog is a way for us to discuss all things Spiritual Workout and I welcome you to it.

Given that there are a number of different forms this class is taking - from the flagship drop-in class in Idyllwild to the weekly classes (also in Idyllwild) to the mind-body spin-off (also in Idyllwild) and to the new teleclass starting today (no geographic limitations), there are times when questions and insights occur outside of scheduled class times and this is a place to address all of that. It's also a place for me to expound upon aspects of the work and today, in this maiden post, I want to address, if I can, my experience with the mind-body class I've been teaching with Trine Bietz, my spiritual sister and the creator of Morphic Yoga.

Last evening was the third of our current five-class series and we both commented, after it was over, about how great we felt. In fact, that's been the case each week. So in the listen to inspiration department, we know from our feeling that we are on the right track. Our greatest challenge, however, has been to describe what this class is for those of you who are somewhat intrigued but also quite unsure. We are not trying to be obstinate, but it is difficult to articulate and definitely one of those things that is an experience. By design.

For me, it is an action-packed, ultra-dynamic, multi-dimensional, hour-long experience where we touch on and go into everything from where we might be holding emotion and energy in our bodies to what that emotion and energy might be related to, to how to move that energy with our thoughts to how to move it with our bodies to learning different ways to think about our physical challenges and more. What we can say about it is that it is organic because we will work - just like in a regular Spiritual Workout - with what's going on with you. And we know that everyone learns regardless of whose "issues" we happen to be working with at the moment. If you're interested in attending the class, the fee is $20 and the next two meetings will be March 22 and March 29 from 5:00 - 6:00pm. Please send an email to thespiritualworkout@gmail.com to register and/or ask questions. (Because of space, the class is limited to 12). And if you've been to the class, I absolutely welcome anything you might say about your experience(s) and how you would describe it!

On another subject, I'm really excited to be launching the teleclass version of the Spiritual Workout later today and will report back on that. And tonight also marks the beginning of a new weekly six-week session here in Idyllwild, which is closed to 12 participants for the duration of the six weeks.

I cannot tell you what a joy and privilege it is to facilitate this work and to bring it to more and more people in more and more formats. None of it would be possible without the active participation and support of so many of you to whom I am most grateful.

P E A C E ,

Steven